Disappearing Act
by Glowing Insanity
Summary: Everyone knows that one classic magic trick - the magician waves his wand over a hat, and then a bunny pops out. I guess I could say I did the opposite of that and disappeared, but I wasn't even biologically a bunny. I didn't escape a cage and run loose around someone's backyard. I was smuggled out of a Beverly Hills mansion and given a new home in Hollywood. Dangerous? Yep.
1. Prologue: Big Dreams

**Okay, so a few things before you start reading this…**

 **This prologue takes place a few years back, and then it'll jump forward to this year in the first chapter. Throughout this story, it also will include or mention some non-canon events in relation to the show, as well as some for real life, just to fit in with the storyline. Characters will be a few years older than their Total Drama selves, so don't get confused if something happens… like Sky going to college, for example. And one other thing – since the main setting is Los Angeles, it'll be where everyone lives.**

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 **Contents…**

 **Prologue – Big Dreams**

 **Part One – Refuge**  
Chapter 1 – Simpleton's Escape Route  
Chapter 2 – Compare and Contrast  
Chapter 3 – The Girls Left Behind  
Chapter 4 – Invitation Over Spilt Coffee

 **Part Two – Change**  
Chapter 5 – New Digs, Old Friends  
Chapter 6 – Lips Are Sealed  
Chapter 7 – Complete Makeover  
Chapter 8 – News is Out

 **Part Three - Nostalgia  
** Chapter 9 – Common Ground  
Chapter 10 – Bowling Down Memory Lane  
Chapter 11  
Chapter 12

 **Part Four**  
 **Part Five**  
 **Part Six**  
 **Part Seven**  
 **Part Eight**

 **Epilogue**

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 _ **Prologue – Big Dreams**_

 _I never really had any big dreams after high school, apart from getting into an art college. But there were some people who did._

xx

I regretted absolutely everything the moment I stepped outside of the school building and into the pouring rain, which was a first for Los Angeles.

"Why are you bringing _me_?" I asked my classmate Sierra, who was just a few feet in front of me.

"Because Cody said so." She replied haughtily, briefly looking back as she stuffed the large envelope she was holding into her satchel. "And uh, no one else on the yearbook team could come."

"Oh come on, I never even liked Cody in the first place. He's just a guy dreaming big, and you know I had a boyfriend for most of high school anyway. But I guess it… is a bit different since we broke up a couple of days after prom."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well I don't know, really. But to be honest, I'm actually enjoying being single. And I found Cody pretty annoying anyway."

Sierra didn't say anything, and just tucked a strand of her purple hair behind her ear. I could only roll my eyes at how hard she was to be convinced about anything, which was ever since freshman year.

Once we got out to the street, I felt the rain get heavier, and darted across to the bus shelter. At the same time, I felt my phone vibrating in my satchel, and stepped back as I pulled it out to see that my friend Leshawna had texted me.

 _Where you at ya prom queen? I thought you were gonna come over to study for world history and pre calc_

I would have replied right then, but a school bus pulled into the bus stop just as I was about to start typing. I saw Sierra sprinting over to it, and quickly put my phone in my raincoat pocket before following a bunch of others on the bus. Feeling the dry air against my wet skin, I sighed in relief and yanked my hood back, then flopping into the front seat.

"Oh, why'd it have to rain?" I heard Sierra complain, and looked over to see her on the opposite seat facing the window.

I couldn't understand the weather either. It had been a long, agonizing drought, then suddenly, a big dumping of rain came, and that was all there was supposed to be for another long time, if light showers didn't count.

A few stops later (during which time I replied to Leshawna's text), I saw that it wasn't the usual stop – instead of stopping at another high school, we were at the subway station already. Remembering what Sierra had told me before we left, I grabbed my stuff and got off the bus, going straight to the stairs leading down. As soon as I got down to the bottom, Sierra rushed ahead and got on the waiting train. I decided that I had no choice but to follow her, narrowly missing a couple who seemed to be arguing about something.

"I swear, if you get ONE more piercing!" I heard the girl shout, and I winced. I never saw who the guy was, but I still felt sorry for him.

After a half-hour subway ride, and a ten minute walk, I found myself standing outside what was apparently some sort of magazine editorial building. For a moment I completely forgot why I had bothered to let myself get dragged along to the central city. But that wasn't important.

"So is this to get a job or something?" I asked Sierra, who was looking a bit nervous.

"Mhm…" she trailed off and I could hear her gulping. "I dunno what they'll think of my article…"

"What was it about again? Something to do with that new mansion being built in Beverly Hills?"

"It's… got a lot of people after it, like one of the Kardashians, and Justin Timberlake, and Taylor Swift… oh yeah, and Chris McLean."

"Chris McLean?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. "You mean the guy in that badminton movie?"

"Yeah, he actually is pretty rich, but a lot of it is inheritance or something." Sierra looked up at the building and sighed. "I think I'm ready now."

"Do you want me to… wait anywhere?"

"Uh… just by the elevators on the top floor. That's where the editor's office is."

I nodded silently as we slowly walked inside, then going over to the unusually shiny elevator doors. I hadn't read Sierra's article, but I had read previous ones she wrote for the school magazine, which were actually pretty good. I still didn't understand why she didn't press further with Cody and leave me to my study session with Leshawna.

I knew about some of the plans for the mansion – it had been all over the papers for several weeks on end. But I didn't know that I was to find myself inside it one day, for a reason that I probably would have dreaded if I did know.

Simply put, this wasn't going to be the last I heard of the mansion. And that wasn't counting more newspaper articles.

xx

 **And there you go, that's the end of the prologue. Next chapter will be up on Friday (or Thursday for some), so keep an eye out for it.**

 **On a side note, I know this prologue may seem rather confusing and not make sense at all, but that was basically the point. It doesn't relate to the story much at all, but will have a bit of relevance… quite a bit later on.**

 **Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 1: Simpleton's Escape Route

**Alright, this is where the story really starts. For those who didn't notice, Gwen is the main character in this, and I'm sorry for not really clarifying it in the prologue. And also, for those who didn't see the extra note I added a day or so ago, I know the prologue didn't make a lot of sense, but that was basically the point of it. Check it out for yourself because I'm just too lazy to post it here, lol.**

 **In the meantime, enjoy this chapter.**

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 _ **Part One – Refuge**_

 _I wasn't going to get away with just getting out of the mansion and having nowhere to live. I wanted to leave, but I didn't know what I'd do once I was out. At least I did have a decent bed for a few days._

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 _ **Chapter One – Simpleton's Escape Route**_

I wouldn't have even picked what would have been happening three years from then. And I definitely wouldn't have expected something to happen in the middle of the night, while I was just about asleep.

"Psst!" A voice hissed.

Once. I just brushed it aside.

"Psssst!"

Twice. I pulled my pillow out from under me and threw it over top of my head. As if that did anything.

"C'mon Gwen, don't be a lazybones! Izzy's got something exciting!"

That made me bolt up to a sitting position as I looked around for the voice. The darkness didn't help much, especially since my room had thick black curtains. I then looked to my left, noticing the open door. The hallway lights had been dimmed right down tonight, but they gave enough for me to see a strangely familiar figure outlined in the doorway. I could have said many things, but three words came out of my mouth. "Are you crazy?"

There was no answer as the door quietly closed, and a torch light was turned on. The first thing I saw was a female face framed by wildly curly ginger hair, the torch positioned just below her chin. "I might be." She said quietly, laughing.

"Izzy, it's the middle of the night. How did you get away from security?" I asked, swinging my legs round to the side of the bed.

Izzy just slowly walked closer, shining the torch on the floor so she could see. "Izzy will tell you when we make the great escape!" She hissed, grinning wickedly.

I hadn't once thought of getting out of this place. Sure, I hated it with a burning passion. In fact, I was pretty sure all the girls here did. And if almost a year of living in a mansion with hawkeyed security guards, along with scheduled (and pretty much forced) sex with a self-centred jerk thrice weekly, among other things, didn't get to them, then all I could think of is they were just accepting of their fate, however long they'd be here for.

"How? And… why me?"

"Oh, I dunno, was snooping around outside the other day, and at one point Izzy overheard you saying that you wanted to get out of this place." Izzy said with a shrug. "And Zoey's gonna come too!"

I was still half asleep, but a million things were running through my mind right then. If I was to escape, then how _would_ I do it? I was sure Izzy had some sort of sneaky escape route dug out somewhere, but once I was out in the open, what was next from there?

I wanted to say no. The idea of finally leaving this place was almost like a dream come true, but it also sounded ridiculous. Whatever happened, I felt sure that one of the security guards would rock on up and drag us back inside. But of course that wasn't what came out. "I'm in." I said, mentally kicking myself for being so stupid.

Izzy then had the biggest grin as she shone the torch up to the roof, and leapt up and down a couple of times. "Awesome!" She said, stepping back to the door once she'd calmed down. "I've got some stuff out here for you!"

I could only remain silent as Izzy slowly opened the door and peeked out, then bending down to grab something. After staring into space for a few seconds, something soft hit me in the face, followed by another thing.

"There's shoes by the door!" Izzy hissed before slinking out, darting off to the right.

Standing up, I picked up the two soft things – which looked to be a black tank top and black leggings. Of course, I wouldn't get away with wearing my skimpy nightgown that I was provided with a few days after my arrival.

Five minutes passed, and I had changed into the clothes Izzy gave me, along with a pair of high top black chucks. I waited inside my room, having shut the door slightly so no one really suspected anything. Especially not the security guard that was just two corners away. I kept on wondering how the heck Izzy managed to weasel herself in, even with cameras just about all over the place.

With the little light that I had in the room, I slowly walked over to my small dresser, looking around for anything that I could be able to take. I half-blindly reached my hand out, and grabbed the first thing that I touched. It felt very much like a book – it was my diary. Probably the most important thing to take.

I would also need a bag, because I knew that I'd be taking more than just my diary. So I pulled out a simple dark blue drawstring bag from the open drawer. Next thing I grabbed was a large water bottle, which was still pretty full. Two chocolate bars – it wouldn't do much if I was all of a sudden starving, but it was the only food I had.

There was only one item left on the top of my drawers – my bunny ears. I picked them up and stared at them blankly for several seconds before putting them back down. There was no way I was leaving with any reminders of this place.

A beam of faint light shone into the room, and I looked to the door, which was once again open, and Izzy was standing outside. "You ready?" She asked.

Not at all. I had no idea what I was doing, no idea how we were getting out, and no idea what I was going to do next once I got to the city. "Guess so." I said in reply.

"Coolios! Izzy's gonna be waiting in the empty bedroom!" Izzy gave me a thumbs up before going back out.

Empty bedroom? I assumed that it had something to do with how Izzy got into the mansion. But soon enough, it hit me like a speeding bullet. A fire escape ladder went from that balcony down to about six feet off the ground. And knowing Izzy, she would have swung herself onto it from… somewhere. Of course it would be there.

I grabbed a hair tie from the nightstand and quickly pulled my chocolate brown hair into a low bun, just as the door pushed open again. I turned to face it, expecting Izzy to come in, but instead I saw Zoey, dressed in a similar outfit to mine with her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Gwen?" She whispered. "I'm not sure if I can do this. It's just… I don't know."

I looked away and sighed – I was feeling much the same. "I know, I am too." I told her, shrugging. "It sounds crazy, but I also wouldn't mind getting out of this place, so I guess I'm just going with it, even if I don't want to."

Zoey was silent for a minute, just standing in the doorway with her hands clasped together. She looked up at the roof before stepping back. "Maybe…" She said slowly. "Let's… go into the empty bedroom now."

I pulled tight the strings on my bag and threaded my arms through, then following Zoey out. We went down a couple of doors to an unlabelled one – unlike all the other rooms, which had a girl's name on it, this one was bare. Izzy's former residence.

I reached out for the door handle, and turned it as slowly and quietly as possible. Then I pushed it open, a sudden blast of air catching me off guard.

Izzy was standing next to the open balcony door, turning to face us once the door opened. "Someone take this!" She hissed, waving the torch around.

Looking back at Zoey, who was staring at the ground, I walked forward and took the torch. "Then what do you want me to do?" I asked.

Izzy tiptoed outside, quickly motioning for me to follow. "Shine it on the ladder!" She said, pointing to her left.

Maintaining my grip on the torch, I walked out onto the balcony, turning to the right side and pointing the beam straight ahead. A set of rungs immediately became visible, and as soon as they did, Izzy swung herself over the railing, landing nimbly on the first and second rung.

"Is it far?" Zoey asked, slowly walking out.

"It's right there actually, so... no, not far at all." I replied, briefly gesturing to the ladder.

A bird call suddenly echoed out, and I moved the torch to light up the lower part of the ladder. Izzy was waiting at the very bottom, pulling a thumbs up and grinning. She then gestured for me to drop the torch down.

"Drop it?" I exclaimed, still keeping my voice as quiet as possible.

"Izzy's gonna catch it!" Izzy said.

I looked at the torch, sighed, and reached my arm out, letting it slip from my hand. I stepped back and waited for a smash, but all I heard was the skidding of feet on tar seal. The bright beam was shone back up at the ladder before long. I was next.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself up onto the railing, letting my feet dangle just above the ladder.

"Be careful." Zoey whispered from behind.

I looked back at her and eventually shrugged, turning back to face the ladder. "I guess if Izzy can do it, then so can we." I replied, placing one foot on the top rung.

"Okay…"

Looking around for something to hold onto, I gripped onto the small ledge that was a couple of feet above the ladder, and slid off the balcony. My heart skipped a beat as I started to lose my balance, but I managed to steady myself in a matter of seconds. I turned my gaze to the ladder and slowly stepped down to the next rung, moving my hand to prop myself up against the wall. As I lowered myself down to the third, both of my hands moved to take a hold of the first – they were all widely spaced out, so it wasn't hard to do. It was straightforward from there – keep on climbing down until I reached the bottom. That was when I stopped.

"How do I get down from this?" I asked, looking down at Izzy, who was patiently waiting by a large potted plant next to the ladder.

"Jump down!" She replied simply with a grin.

"Are you serious? I could break my ankle doing that… or my leg… or something, but there's no way I can do that without hurting myself."

"Then you could hang from the bottom rung like a monkey!"

That I hadn't thought of. But right then, it was that or nothing. So I pretty much curled up into a ball whilst having my hands and feet on the rung at the same time. I then let my legs hang loose, and quickly looked around before letting go and landing on the ground safely. Despite the bottom rung being six feet off the ground, my height made up for five foot four of it, which turned it into a simple jump.

"Two down, one to go." Izzy said with a quiet cackle, moving the torch beam back up to the top of the ladder. "Hey, where'd she go?"

"Where'd who go? Zoey?" I asked, looking up to the balcony – and of course, Zoey was nowhere in sight. "I… would have no idea."

Right after, Zoey poked her head out from the balcony, and she looked to be sad. "I'm sorry… I just can't do this." She said, shaking her head. "I can't."

"Aw, come on, you'll never regret it!" Izzy replied, running over to the ladder.

"No… I can't come… it's too risky."

"Zoey, if you don't want to end up like Bridgette, then come with us." I told her, feeling a pang in my heart as I mentioned my old friend's name. "I don't know where she is now, but I bet she's feeling a lot better since she left three months ago. Besides, you've only had to take part a couple of times, but that's just because of that disgusting stomach flu that went around the mansion."

Zoey was silent, almost as if she was thinking long and hard about all this. I could sort of understand where she was coming from – I wasn't feeling much different either. But it was my one chance, and I had to take it. "Okay… I'll come." She said after several unusually long minutes

I sighed with what felt like relief – I wasn't exactly sure if it was a good thing, but I did know that I wouldn't be going it alone, not counting Izzy.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Izzy cheered quietly, leaping up and down in excitement.

I looked up as Zoey slowly moved from the balcony railing to the top rung, a bit more hesitant than I was. "It's not hard once you're properly on the ladder." I said as a few words of encouragement.

Zoey seemed to pick up the pace a little bit, and before long she was climbing down the ladder. "What do I do next?" She asked once she reached the bottom.

"Just jump from there!" Izzy replied. "You saw what Gwen did, right?"

"Um... yeah, I did."

"Then go for it!"

Zoey didn't move for a few seconds, but eventually she reached down for the bottom rung, and let her legs slide off. She let go, and landed on the ground with a slight wobble afterwards.

"Awesome!" Izzy said with a grin. "Now follow Izzy!"

I opened my mouth to ask where we were going next, but Izzy was already lightly running down the path. I had no choice but to follow her. So I took off at a jog, trying to keep my steps as quiet as possible. I turned the corner around to the side of the mansion, and stopped once I saw Izzy waiting by the brick and iron wrought fence.

"There's a gate here!" She hissed, pointing to a part of the fence which looked pretty ordinary.

I slowly walked closer, and noticed that the iron section Izzy was standing by was smaller than all the others - it was pretty obvious from that point on.

"There's only bedrooms on this side of the mansion... and they're not in use at the moment..." I said quietly as I stopped a few feet away from the fence and Izzy. "There'll be only a couple of cameras around that area… so that will be why nobody knows about it."

"Not even the security guards." Izzy giggled, then stepping to her left and looking ahead. "Here's Zoey!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Zoey walking closer, her hands clasped together behind her. I heard a slight clicking sound, and turned around to see that Izzy had opened the gate.

"This way!" She said, slowly backing out.

Quickly looking back at Zoey, I took a deep breath and walked out of the mansion grounds, putting force into my step. I was actually leaving, _without_ telling anyone else. It almost seemed surreal. And I had thought it would be some sort of elaborate exit, which Izzy had somehow made.

I stopped once I felt myself stepping onto a slightly steep surface – the pavement running along the side of the road. I looked back at the mansion, just as Zoey slowly made her way out.

"This place really needs to improve on its security." I remarked, snickering at the thought.

"Hahaha, I know, right?" Izzy chuckled before walking over to the gate and gently pulling it shut. "Alright… Izzy's new house isn't far from here, so we just walk."

"It's not far?" Zoey exclaimed. "How did you… get here then, if you're living so close?"

"Oh, it's just around a couple of street corners and all that, but you can't see it from the mansion at all!"

"Wow… well that's great!"

"Now let's get outta here!" Izzy bounded off down the pavement, doing a couple of cartwheels along the way.

I looked up at the stars, then back over my shoulder at my former home, which I hadn't really resided in for that long. And to think that I was a little bit excited about coming here at the beginning of the year.

"Gwen, are you coming?" Zoey asked.

I stared at the mansion for several seconds, unable to hold back the huge smile that was forcing its way onto my face. "Yeah, I'm coming." I replied, stepping back a few feet before opening my mouth to say one last thing. "So long, Playboy mansion. Hope you… _don't_ miss us." I declared, turning around to jog after Izzy, Zoey quickly following.

xx

 **So I'm hoping it's… at least starting to make sense now. Gwen's just escaped the Playboy mansion, where she'd been for… about eight or nine months, and is off to Izzy's apartment.**

 **That aside, do tell me if you're confused by any aspects of the fic, and I'll get back to you and maybe try and fix it.**

 **Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 2: Compare and Contrast

**Alright, new chapter, here we go. And in case anyone's noticing this, if some characters are a bit OOC, just remember that they're several years older, and probably would have matured a bit more.**

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 **Chapter 2 – Compare and Contrast**

When I woke up, I smelt pancakes instead of overly applied, rose scented room freshener. I opened my eyes, and saw a simple white door instead of a massive half-wall of a door. And I woke up feeling happy and refreshed, which was a definite first.

Yawning, I kicked the covers off and slowly sat up, looking towards the plain white blind that covered the window. Small rays of sun were sneaking in, and I could already tell that today was going to be good, in terms of weather.

Right then, the door suddenly opened, and I turned to see Izzy poking her head in. "Oh hey, you're awake!" She said with a laugh. "There's some pancakes waiting in the kitchen if you want some!" She darted back out immediately after.

I swung my legs around to the side of the bed and stood up, adjusting the sleeve of the nightshirt that Izzy had loaned to me. I grabbed the black leggings from the small dresser and quickly put them on, then going out to the hallway.

Another thing that I suddenly noticed – I was walking on carpet which was light brown. Back at the mansion, all of the girls had the luxury of getting up and standing on a freezing cold tiled floor, which was even worse in the winter. But stepping onto something warm and soft at this time of the morning was something else.

I walked slowly down the short hallway, and eventually entered a fairly large room, with two couches, a sofa, a television and a small fireplace on one side, a round table with five chairs in the centre, and a tiled kitchen area which had creamy white benchtops. Momentarily I completely forgot why I was here.

I had arrived very early in the morning, about half past one, according to Izzy. We went in through a back entrance, meaning that all I saw was the hallway, the bedroom I slept in and the bathroom. Now, I was standing in the living area with nothing to rush to, from some life-threatening challenge to being on kitchen duty (which required us to be wearing the scantiest apron possible, as well as a G-string). It was going to be one of the best days of my life.

Pancakes suddenly pushed into my mind, as did the smell back up my nose. I sighed and looked to the table again, spotting a plate with a stack of about three pancakes in front of one seat. A bottle of maple syrup, a bowl of whipped cream and a bowl of berries were also on the table.

"The guy in the next door apartment made those!" Izzy said as she came in through the main door, which was open. "He ended up eating some of them, but left enough for us!"

"Is he a cook or something?" I asked, walking over to the plate of pancakes and pulling out the chair to sit down.

"Oh, he makes awesome food, but he's not cooking for a living. He just bought a _load_ of pancake mix yesterday or something, and I think his roommates wanted none, so… yeah!"

"Izzy, have you got any more pancakes left?" A voice called from outside.

"Huh?" Izzy stepped onto the balcony and looked to her right. "Oh, hi Emma!" She waved at someone. "Yeah, we got like three spares! Why?"

"Oh, we had about nine or ten pancakes, but Owen ate the whole lot. And Noah got the last of the cereal too."

I brushed the conversation aside and turned to my breakfast, grabbing the maple syrup and squirting some on top. Then putting a dollop of cream on, as well as a few berries, I was ready to eat. And, all of a sudden, I was starving.

"Oh my gosh, that looks so good…" I heard Zoey say from the hallway, and turned to see her walk out. "So much better than at the mansion."

Izzy then walked back inside with a slightly short Asian girl in purple pyjamas following her, a plate in hand. "So the extras… uh, I think I already put them in the fridge…" Izzy said slowly, going over to the fridge and pulling it open, then taking out a small container afterwards. "You mind them a little bit cold?"

"Oh, not at all. Just as long as they're not so cold that they need reheating." The girl replied with a smile, then looking to me and Zoey. "Are these… new roommates of yours?"

"Erm… sort of?" Izzy laughed.

"Yeah, I guess we sort of are." Zoey put in. I don't know for how long though…"

"Alright… thanks for the pancakes!" The girl smiled at Izzy again before walking out.

"Did you have people here before?" I asked, the thought having just struck me.

"Yeah!" Izzy said as she shut the door and turned to face us. "There was Eva, buuut she's kinda having a bit of a vacation at the local anger management place."

It was silent for a while – I was astonished to hear what Izzy had just said, and Zoey looked to be as well.

"Anger management place?" I repeated.

"Yep, you probably wouldn't want to meet her either." Izzy continued, cringing slightly.

"Oh no, I would never want to meet her now that I've heard that!" Zoey said, shaking her head. "Is she… meant to come back at some point?"

"Yeah, I don't remember when though… Izzy's just gonna check."

I turned back to my pancakes as Izzy bounded out of the room, and picked up my fork to continue eating.

Like Zoey had said earlier, they were a lot better than back at the mansion. Last time I could remember pancakes being made for breakfast there, they didn't taste that great at all, and I had sworn I could see nail clippings and hairs all through them.

I was pulled back down to earth as I heard a slightly distant gasp from Izzy. "She's coming back in like two days!" She exclaimed as she running back into the room.

"Two… days?" Zoey repeated, sounding nervous all of a sudden. "What do we do then?"

"I dunno… I don't think there's any other apartments free here…"

"How many are there in this block?" I asked.

"Eight. Four up top, and four on the bottom. Hold up, Izzy's gonna be back." Izzy jogged back outside and called out to another person. "Hey Noah! All the apartments here are taken, right?"

No reply for a few seconds, until someone yelled out "yep" in response to Izzy's question.

"So I guess we'll have to find somewhere to stay." I said after swallowing a mouthful of pancake and syrup. "How though? It's not like we've got any money to pay for rent and all that."

"Well… we gotta find something, but first, I think Izzy needs to take you guys to get better stuff than a black top and black pants!" Izzy laughed as she picked up two plates of pancakes and walked over to the table.

Once breakfast was all done, I was back in my temporary bedroom, and had changed into the clothes I was wearing the previous night, as I had nothing else, and any clothes Izzy offered for me to borrow were not really my style.

"Hey Gwen, did I miss anything while I was gone?" Izzy called from her own bedroom.

I opened my mouth to reply, but immediately shut it and went out of the room, going across the hallway. Izzy was in the opposing room, fully dressed also and sitting on her bed.

"Not really that much." I said, shrugging. "But you did miss a few challenges. Like paintball… and a really long trust challenge… you left just after the canoe one, right?"

"Yep-yep, that's when Izzy left! Hey, what's the date today?"

I looked around the room for a calendar, and spotted one hanging on the wall above Izzy's bed, with some amount of days crossed off. I took a couple of steps closer to have a proper look, and could only laugh as I saw that it was Saturday. "Tenth of September. Challenge day." I said. "And I think I've managed to miss the boot camp one that had been planned for ages."

"Woohoo, awesome!" Izzy cheered, leaping up and throwing her hands in the air. "Who wants to do that anyway?" She shrugged and laughed.

"What did we miss?" Zoey asked from the kitchen, having volunteered to wash the breakfast dishes.

"The boot camp challenge!" I called back. "And most probably a lot of other… stuff."

"Oh, yes! I'd been dreading that ever since it was announced. Now I don't even have to bother about going!"

"Yeeha, party!" Izzy shouted, falling back onto her bed so that she was lying across it. "Hey, when _did_ those challenges start getting used? Izzy can't remember."

I looked up at the roof as I racked my brains for an answer, taking note that Zoey arrived two weeks after they started, so she had missed the first four. "We've done them for about… a month now… I think it was the thirtieth of July when we started, but Chris had them announced way back in the start of June." I said after a full minute of thinking. "It feels like it's been five months instead of one and a half. Half the reason why we hated them, I guess."

"Hm… yeah, that sounds right." Izzy nodded in agreement, then quickly looking over her shoulder at her small bedside clock. "Whoa-ho, look at the time! We gotta go soon!"

I spent the next ten minutes just sitting in my room, looking through a bunch of magazines that Izzy had dumped by the nightstand for me to read. There wasn't really a lot that interested me, apart from the odd celebrity news – I even saw an article about Bridgette leaving the mansion, which was apparently 'sad' and 'devastating'. And like pretty much all gossip magazines these days, it was mostly a bunch of lies. But I just read on, interested in what they thought about the matter, and was so engrossed in it, I didn't hear Izzy calling my name until she bounded into the room, giving me a slight fright.

"Uh… are we going now?" I asked, putting the magazine down.

"Yep, now!" Izzy replied with a grin. "Oh yeah, and you might wanna have a sweater or something overtop… I dunno if they'll recognise us out in public or not."

My heart suddenly sank as I heard those words. It was still possible that other people would think I looked very familiar, in a famous way. And that was really the last thing I wanted. But new clothes? I knew I could do with those as well.

"Well… I guess right now I'd be not wanting to go out at all, but I don't want to have to go another day with wearing this." I gestured to my leggings and top. "So… I'll come."

"Awesome! Emma's got a sweater you can borrow – I asked her earlier just in case. Anyway, the bus is gonna be going past in a couple of minutes, so we better go!" Izzy leapt back out to the hallway, and ran off to the right.

I stared at the doorway for a couple of minutes, thinking about what could happen while we were out. Deciding it wasn't really that much of an issue, I moved the magazine I had been reading over to the pile on the nightstand, then getting up and slowly walking out.

Five minutes later, I was walking down the street with Izzy and Zoey, the early autumn breeze blowing past us. In terms of clothing, I had ended up with a purple and black sweater over my tank top, whilst Zoey had a lighter purple one, as well as borrowed jeans from Izzy.

As soon as we turned the corner, a bus came into my view, which was just a few seconds away from stopping at the even closer bus stop.

"Let's go!" Izzy cheered, leaping onto the bus as soon as the doors opened. "Three return tickets to this stop, please!" She told the bus driver, pulling out what looked like a fifty dollar bill from her wallet.

I slowly followed Zoey on, and we went down the aisle until we stopped at one of the middle row of seats, and sat on the left side. Izzy soon bounded over with three tickets in hand, taking the seat in front of us.

"I think this is the first time I've been on a bus in a long time." Zoey said with a slight giggle. "It… feels kinda weird now, just because we were all stuck at the mansion, and only ever travelled in limousines if we were going anywhere."

"Yeah, it's totally different!" Izzy replied, also laughing. "It doesn't take that long to get used to, so you'll be fine!"

I decided to not join in on the conversation this time, and just stared out the window, watching the Beverly Hills scenery pass by. And although it was apparently a fifteen minute bus ride, it only felt like five minutes had passed before the bus stopped outside a large shopping centre, which had quite a few people milling around outside.

"Let's go!" Izzy said with a whoop, distracting me from my thoughts as I turned to see her running down the aisle and off the bus. "Come on guys, let's do some shopping!"

I looked to Zoey, just as she stood up and walked out to the aisle. I quickly followed, and soon we were standing outside the shopping centre, ten or so feet away from a carpark entrance.

"So where to from here?" I asked as the bus pulled away.

"Into the shopping centre, of course!" Izzy replied with a laugh. "Hey, you guys want a coffee first? Izzy knows a really good café!"

"Oh my gosh, yes please!" Zoey gushed. "I haven't had a really good coffee in a long time…

"Awesome! What about you Gwen?"

It only took me a few seconds to figure out my answer. "Yeah, I could probably do with one." I replied, nodding.

"Alright! Now let's go inside and find this café!"

Right at that moment, all that was on my mind was coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee. And all of a sudden, accommodation. Especially if I'd have to leave a couple of days later due to the Eva girl coming back from the anger management centre.

"Izzy, when we get back to your apartment, do you think we'd be able to look up places where I can stay once your… friend comes back?" I asked as we walked down a path through the carpark.

"Oh, sure!" Izzy replied, slowing down slightly to walk next to me. "Izzy knows some other people who might be able to take you in!"

I could only hope that these people were at least decent.

xx

 **Going on a trip for three days next week, so I may or may not have the next chapter up by Thursday/Friday, and it could end up being the day after.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Girls Left Behind

**Not so much dialogue this chapter, and more just… well, Gwen talking, I guess. Not that it's all paragraphs and no wards at all.**

xx

 _ **Chapter 3 = The Girls Left Behind**_

I had originally hoped that the shopping trip would help take my mind off things, such as… well, everything that had happened the previous night. But I couldn't help but think about the other girls at the mansion, since they would have to go through a stupidly long process if they wanted to actually leave, and probably didn't really think of escaping. I had wondered if some of them were thinking about me.

I knew there was one who would not miss me in the slightest – Heather. In fact, I would be pretty sure that she was actually happy that I'd left, even if it was an overnight escape.

The first time I met Heather, which was on 'orientation day' at the mansion, we almost immediately hated each other. She was the typical Queen Bee stereotype, and referred to a lot of people as 'losers', even the butlers. Due to this, she wasn't very… widely liked at all. Alright, she was hated. But that was her problem.

I could still remember that first day, almost like it was a few weeks ago. Except it was a few weeks after New Years'.

It was a cloudless winter day, and all I could hear was girls chatting with the various butlers and gardeners as I stood in the lobby of the brand new mansion, which had finished construction just over a month ago. We were all told it was a bachelor-type thing, which was moderately exciting at the time.

I had decided to come basic that day, only wearing a grey low-cut top and dark blue jeans. A large, navy suitcase stood behind me, making me feel like a first-time boarding school girl.

After looking around at the massive lobby for several minutes, I headed for the stairs, dragging my bag along with me. And of course, after a few steps, I heard someone calling my name.

"Gwendolyn Evans?" A male voice called.

I turned around to look for the owner of the voice, just as I suddenly crashed into someone that I managed to not see coming down the stairs.

"Ugh, watch where you're going!" A female voice complained.

Having not found the other voice, I turned back to see who I had bumped into – tallish, raven black hair, supermodel thin, and the icing on the cake – a steely glare directed right at me.

"Sorry, someone had called my name. One of the butlers, I think." I told her, totally not expecting what was coming next.

"Whatever, wife of Dracula." The girl retorted with a scoff, stalking off.

My head snapped back to stare after her, and even though I was telling myself not to, I lunged forward and grabbed her by the wrist, causing her to look back with a rather annoyed expression.

"What did you just call me?" I asked, giving her a glare of my own.

"Nothing. It wouldn't matter to a loser like you." She grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow. "I heard pretty well what you called me. And before you do ask, I can thank my mother for having such pale skin."

It was a glaring contest for a few seconds, but I broke off once I heard the male voice again.

"Gwendolyn Evans?"

I looked to my right, just in time to see a tall, tanned guy with greenish-blue eyes walking over, a clipboard in hand.

"What's this, a sort of register or something?" I asked, turning to face him.

"That is pretty much what it is." The guy replied, looking up and flashing a smile. "And you are Gwendolyn Evans, I take it?"

"Oh, sorry, that's _me_." The other girl said, pushing me to the side.

I stumbled backwards for a few feet before regaining my balance, and I stood there listening to the new conversation. And through that, I had managed to hear that her name was apparently Heather, and she claimed that the photos were mixed up. But I could fix that problem easily. I grabbed my suitcase and dug into the front pocket, pulling my passport out and quickly opening it at the photo page, striding over and then waving it in front of the guy's face.

"Now _this_ is me." I said, casting a side glance at a suddenly peeved Heather. At that point, I was almost sure she looked that annoyed all the time.

The guy took my passport and quickly jotted down a couple of things, which I could only assume were to do with the information on there, and handed it back to me. "Thank you, and your room is up the east stairwell, third on the left." He told me with another smile.

I could only walk off, having just managed to confirm my identity. I knew that Heather was probably just trying to give me some sort of payback, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be last time we butted head. And oh boy, it wasn't the last time at all.

One other thing that did happen – Heather had 'recruited' a couple of the girls to… basically wait on her hand and foot, as well as try to dish up a bit of dirt here and there. Lindsay was her second in command – a dumb, blue-eyed, big breasted blonde. Such a typical stereotype, I had always thought. But I couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for her – she was that clueless, she didn't even realise that Heather wasn't trying to 'be friends' with her, and (mostly) happily accepted every order, errand, whatever it was.

Then there was Katie – mostly sad all the time, because she had apparently left her 'best female friend for life' at home. She didn't do as much as Lindsay, and was usually bringing food or drinks from the butler into Heather's room. She also had to 'keep watch' for an hour after dinner, as Heather always seemed to have a bit of peace and quiet around that time, which included a shower in the practically soundproof en suite. Why they were made that way, I never got to find out.

Another day I could remember, which heavily involved Lindsay, Katie and obviously Heather, was when one of them snatched my diary from my room while I was having a shower. It spread around the mansion like the plague, but didn't reach as far as his jerkiness's headquarters, which would have been an embarrassing disaster if it had. Most of what happened was some way of trying to push Heather up to girlfriend no. 1, or as most of the girls called it, 'top bitch'. The second title worked so well for her, but there was already someone else who had it, and was pretty much locked in it.

Courtney. Probably the less annoying out of the others, but it wasn't to say that she was perfectly fine. For days upon end she'd ramble about being a councillor in training, and seemed to like the idea of trying to sue Chris – but like that ever got her anywhere. Instead, she was bumped up to the top once Mildred, or Blaineley as she claimed to be, left after throwing a bit of a tantrum – not even applying to leave. But of course, that only pissed Courtney off more, and what was worse (for her) was that there was no way out unless she went through the application process, which nobody really bothered to do unless they really wanted out. So she was basically stuck with no real friends – she deemed mostly everyone to be stupid or insane, except for Bridgette, who did leave just a week before the 'promotion'.

Unlike Courtney, Bridgette made a few more friends, the others being Lindsay, Izzy and Zoey. And myself, of course. She was the next person I met, after my little confrontation with Heather.

It was a bit of a drag as I carried my suitcase up the stairs, but once I finally got to the top, I put it down and wheeled it along the marble floor. I went past a couple of large rooms, including a television room and what looked to be a library before coming to a corridor of bedrooms – and each of them seemed to have a name on the door. I slowly walked down, watching the first few names go by – Courtney, Lindsay, Heather, and then there was mine. I looked down to the end of the corridor out of curiosity, but only saw unlabelled doors. Shrugging the confusion off, I reached out and pushed the slightly ajar door open, just as a voice distracted me.

"Hey, I think we're… neighbours, I guess!"

I looked over my shoulder and saw a green-eyed girl who had her blonde hair in a ponytail, and also had a much friendlier demeanour than Heather. For a minute I suddenly thought that this girl was also called Heather, but I turned to the door to my right and saw that the label on it read 'Bridgette'.

"Well I guess we are." I replied, turning back to face her. "You're not the first girl I've met here, but you're the first decent one. Had a run in with another girl earlier." I pointed to Heather's label.

"Oh, is that the crazy ginger girl? I saw her earlier, and she's really nuts…"

"No, did you see the Asian girl?" I stepped back slightly as I tried to recall her outfit. "She was wearing a maroon crop top, I think, and really short khaki shorts.

"Oh! Actually, I think I did see her at one point, but she looked pretty frustrated."

"Yeah, I've already got the impression that she's a bit of a bitch." We laughed for a few seconds, but stopped as we both seemed to hear someone crying.

"Who's that?" Bridgette wondered, turning around, just as a tall, tanned girl with black pigtails stumbled around the corner. "Oh no! Are you okay?"

Bridgette had spent the next few minutes comforting the girl, who I later learned was Katie. She had ended up comforting a lot of girls over the time she was there, therefore pretty much becoming a mansion counsellor.

Later on that day, I got to know the rest of the girls who I hadn't met yet, including the crazy ginger that Bridgette had mentioned – Izzy.

For someone as crazy as Izzy, mostly everything that was going on, she partook in with a… pretty large amount of enthusiasm. Even when activities went slightly… well, quite a bit sexual, she was always first, or close to first, if the no. 1 girlfriend was requested to go first in whatever it was. Then about seven or eight months into it, the challenges were inputted (as well as us being sorted into small teams), which Izzy seemed to love more than anything – especially jumping of a thousand foot cliff into the water, where there was a large shark zone and a tiny safe zone, but big enough for an average person to have plenty of room to swim, if they really wanted.

But suddenly, after a canoe challenge, Izzy left. Without any notice at all. It was fretted about for over a week, but eventually brushed aside, as matters would only be serious if the top girlfriend was to disappear – or even Chris himself.

There was no sign of Izzy for at least a month, until of course, late last night, when she came to 'smuggle' me out of the mansion, along with Zoey.

Zoey was the first of three reserves to be recruited into the 'business', and she was quite lonely right from the start, as she apparently had lived in a small town overrun by jocks. And as a reserve, it was still mandatory for her to do the challenges, but for anything else, she was sometimes allowed to choose whether she wanted to or not (and of course most of the time she said no – I couldn't blame her). During a cooking challenge, we had been partnered together to make an entrée, which I had strangely forgotten the name of. Even though there was the odd bump in the road while trying to make it, we ended up getting to know each other quite well, and were pretty much friends at the end of it.

The other two reserves weren't as interesting, and were both a bit dumb as well. There was Dakota – a spoiled wannabe who wanted nothing more than fame. I didn't really see that much of her, as she was almost only on for the challenges, and that was about it. A few things that I did learn about her was that she had numerous 'back up' cell phones, which all slowly got confiscated one by one, as electronics like phones weren't allowed. And another thing, which was half the reason why all her phones were taken off her – the paparazzi. Almost once every single day, she'd call them up for a 'photoshoot', as she called it. Of course, that never went down well.

The other reserve, Anne Maria, looked like she belonged on Jersey Shore. Big hair, fake tan, a lot of make-up – somewhat horrifying, almost. And since she was the last reserve, she was exclusively on for challenges. Add that to the fact that we were on opposite teams, and I never really saw her, or even knew that much about her.

I was so deep in thought for that entire time, that I had just followed Izzy and Zoey to wherever they were going. Wordlessly, I would slowly walk through stores, grab clothes to try on, and very nearly missed something about the coffee being pushed back until the end of our trip.

Whilst waiting outside a pyjama store, having bought some things from there already, I shook my head to stop myself from thinking – it was starting to hurt. I stepped back slightly and watched all the other people going past, still trying to relax my mind. Even that was a bit tiring.

"Hey Gwen! You coming?" Izzy called out to me, although it sounded a bit far away.

I shook myself again and turned to see her standing at the entrance with Zoey, who had another bag added to her small haul, which was now at four bags, whereas I had three.

"Are you sure you're alright with paying for all this?" I asked Izzy, walking over to them.

"Yeah, totally fine!" Izzy replied, nodding quickly. "Are you alright though? Izzy noticed you were really quiet!"

"Oh, I've just been… thinking about the girls back at the mansion, and what's happened over the year. It is kind of sad that they're still there, and we're here… free from all that crap."

"But hey, at least you _are_ here!" Zoey chipped in, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Imagine what would happen if Izzy never came…"

"And Izzy's gonna be getting everyone out before long!" Izzy continued with a cackle. "Oh, do you guys think you've got enough stuff for now?"

I stopped for a minute to quickly look through the bags I had, Zoey eventually doing the same. "I think I'm alright for about a week, but I don't know when I will be able to get more if I need it." I replied, hoisting one bag up over my shoulder.

"Okay! Zoey?"

I looked up as Zoey picked up all her bags again – two in each hand, and she simply nodded with a smile.

"Awesome! Now let's get some coffee!"

Xx

 **New chapter next week, should be Thursday/Friday, yada-yada (lol)**


	5. Chapter 4: Invitation Over Spilt Coffee

_**Chapter 4 – Invitation Ove Spilt Coffee**_

xx

I felt suddenly tired as I sat down at the table we decided to take. I wasn't really that surprised, considering the amount of thinking I had done over the past hour or so. And a coffee was all I wanted at that point.

"You alright Gwen?" Zoey asked as she sat down on the couch opposite.

"Uh… yeah, I guess so." I replied with a laugh, looking up. "All that thinking has done my head in a bit."

"I started thinking about the other girls a bit too, but I should probably stop before I get a headache."

"Oh yeah, you don't really want to go where I did." I snickered, then looking up at Izzy, who seemed to be talking to one of the guys working there. "Since she's taken that long, I'm guessing that they know each other?" I wondered.

"They probably do." Zoey said with a shrug. "I hope I do get to meet some new people too though! It was kind of boring seeing the same people every single day for weeks on end… and I was only there for two months or something…"

"Well whatever's happening right now, I hope they're having fun doing boot camp without us."

Izzy then flopped down in the couch by the window, a small plate with a caramel slice on it in hand. "So, whaddaya think so far?" She asked, then taking a bite of her slice as she put the plate down.

"What do we think of… what, all this?" I gestured to… everything around us, it seemed. What _did_ I actually think of all this anyway?

"Well… I think that it's great, and _so much better_ than being… well, locked up in that horrid mansion." Zoey replied.

"What she said, I guess. I can't be bothered to even think about something as simple as that."

"Alright, okay!" Izzy laughed, then sitting back slightly as a short, pale girl with silvery blonde hair put a cappuccino down in front of her. "Thanks Dawn!" She said, giving the girl a thumbs up.

"You are welcome." The girl, Dawn, replied with a slight bow of her head before going back to behind the counter.

A minute later, a slightly taller girl came over with a latte – she was also blonde, but had fair skin and teal eyes, as well as a pretty obvious beauty mark underneath her right eye.

"Oh, thank you!" Zoey exclaimed as the latte was placed on the table in front of her.

"Whatever." The girl said, stalking off.

I stared after her in shock – this girl was working at a coffee shop with that attitude?

"What's her deal?" I said in a low voice, turning to Izzy.

"Oh, Amy just gets annoyed about pretty much everything all the time." Izzy shrugged, laughing. "You might get used to it, if you start coming to this place often."

"Okay, I guess I'll keep that in mind." I looked to Zoey, who was just quietly stirring her latte. "Why _is_ she that annoyed?"

"Because she's got a younger sister – twin sister – that's… slowly starting to stand up to her, and get better than her in some things. I dunno the whole story."

"Wait… standing up to her?"

"Yeah, that's a bit of a long story… Izzy might tell you guys that later."

I suddenly heard a bit of commotion, and I looked over to the counter, where the two girls were darting in and out of the kitchen, and the guy – who had a cowboy hat on his head – was checking underneath the counter for something.

"You guys alright?" Izzy called to them, standing up.

"No milk left!" Dawn frantically replied before going back into the kitchen.

"Aw, no! Hold up, Izzy can get some if ya need it!"

"Huh?" The guy popped up from behind the counter with an empty milk bottle in hand. "Oh, no worries, we got an order coming in… uh, twenty minutes?"

"But Izzy's still gonna get some! Be riiight back!" Izzy sprinted out of the room, leaving her half-drunken coffee behind.

I could only sit there and wait for the entire time she was gone, which ended up being about fifteen minutes. Within that time, an extremely tall, dark skinned girl stopped by to get a sandwich, and a blond guy who looked to be twelve or thirteen got himself a cookie and an apple juice.

It wasn't until a couple of guys (who seemed to be having a bit of an argument) came in that Izzy bounded into the cafe, a bottle of milk in each of her hands. "Got some!" She shouted, putting the bottles on the counter.

Cowboy hat guy burst out of the kitchen, a huge grin on his face. "Oh man, thanks so much dudette!" He said, picking both bottles up. "We got milk!" He yelled over his shoulder. "Now time to make this coffee!"

"No problem!" Izzy darted back to the table and sat down, sighing. "Phew, that was easy! Izzy thought it was gonna be hard, because this place gets _so_ busy on a Saturday. But it was fine!"

"How do you know so many people when you've been out of the mansion for... uh, a month or something?" Zoey asked, putting her teaspoon on the saucer.

"Owen knows a lotta people, so I got to know them all through him! There's so many that you'll get to meet – that's Geoff there." Izzy pointed to cowboy guy. "Oh yeah, Amy's sister works at the supermarket where I got my milk from, so... yeah, don't get confused when you see her!"

"Does she look any different to Amy?" I asked.

"No, they're pretty much identical twins! But Sammy doesn't have a beauty mark."

"Heard that! It's Samey!" Amy shouted from the counter.

"No one cares, bye!" Izzy stood up and threw her screwed up serviette at Amy, getting a perfect hit on the forehead. "Just ignore her. She's weird."

"I am not!"

"Anyway, that's another story that's part of the really big one that I talked about before, but yeah!"

"Okay..." I looked to the counter, just as Geoff came out with my cappuccino. "There we are."

At the same time, the two guys who had come in earlier got up, pushing and shoving each other on the way to the counter. One of them – a chubby guy with ginger hair – crashed into Geoff, which caused him to lose his balance and nearly drop the cup. He caught it in time, but the coffee inside splashed all over the floor and his shoes.

"Aw, dudes, really?" Geoff complained, looking over his shoulder at them with a stern glare.

"He started it!" The other one – slimmer and dark skinned with shaggy black hair – snapped, pointing at the ginger guy.

"No, you did, slimeball!" Ginger guy retorted, shoving him backwards.

"Dudes, I'm gonna have to get you to leave if you're gonna be like this." Geoff told them, putting the cup down and turning to face them.

I just looked between the mess on the ground and the three guys as the conversation went on, until Geoff eventually went back behind the counter, and a rather satisfied looking Amy went out.

"Come on losers, get out!" She ordered, pushing skinny guy towards the entrance with both of her hands. "Don't make me use my boot!"

Ginger guy bolted out as soon as she said that, seeming to not want that much pain. Skinny guy quickly followed, looking over his shoulder as he ran around the corner.

"Well that just happened." I said, still looking towards where the two guys went.

"Yeah, those guys are stepbrothers, and they hate each other _so_ much!" Izzy laughed. "Sometimes it's kinda funny."

Geoff then came out of the kitchen with a wet cloth, dropping down to the floor once he got to the puddle of coffee. "Dudettes, I'm so sorry that happened!" He said as he wiped up the mess. "I wasn't really looking behind me, I guess..."

"Don't worry, you did nothing at all." I told him, standing up. "Those guys just need to learn a thing or two."

"And stop hating on each other." Izzy added.

"Yeah, probably. Oh man, I'm so sorry though! I thought it was gonna be all good once we got the milk... but I guess not. You want a free cookie for... well, all this mess?" Geoff paused what he was doing to look up at me.

"You don't really need to worry about that – I'm fine with just another coffee." I replied, shrugging and smiling.

"But I feel like I still gotta give you something! I'm just gonna feel bad, whatever happened."

"No, no, it's alright! But if you really want to... then I guess I could think about it for a few minutes."

"Alright, s'all good! I just don't wanna be feeling bad!"

I sat back down on the couch and looked over at Izzy, who seemed to be thinking. She looked up as if a lightbulb had flashed in her mind, and she grinned.

"Hey Geoff, you got any apartments free in your block?" She asked.

"Uh… I dunno if we do, but there's a free bed in the apartment next door to mine." Geoff replied as he wiped up the last of the coffee. "You looking for some new digs?"

"Oh, not me, it's for… one of these guys!" Izzy gestured to me, then Zoey. "Probably Gwen, cuz she's in Eva's room at the moment, and she comes back on Monday!"

"Ooh, dang… uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure my girlfriend won't mind another person in her apartment! She is looking for one anyway… so yeah!"

"Alright, coolios! What do you think Gwen?"

I thought about it for a couple of minutes – it did mean probably bunking with people I barely knew, which would be awkward. But at the same time, I felt like I did need a fresher start than this morning, even though it was still nice.

"Well… I guess I wouldn't mind that, if you're okay with offering that for the spilt coffee." I said eventually, nodding. "I don't exactly have any money to pay for rent or anything though."

"No money?" Geoff repeated, looking confused.

"Uh… yeah… can we go over there for a minute?" Izzy asked, pointing to a hallway which lead to the toilets. "There's a bit of a story to go with it."

"Alright, gotcha. I'll just get one of the girls to make another cappuccino first."

I looked up, and all of a sudden Dawn was standing there, the empty cup in hand.

"Amy is on her break now, but I can make another one." She said, startling Geoff.

"Wha- oh! Right, okay!" He said hurriedly, then starting to laugh. "Oh man, every time…"

Dawn just laughed slightly and walked off, Izzy then standing up. "Be back in a minute!" She said with a grin before running off to the hallway.

I sat back and turned to look out the window, watching shoppers walk past with armfuls of bags, trolleys, kids, and all other things in between. It still felt a bit surreal – to be finally out of the mansion that I was pretty much chained to for nine months. But then there were consequences. I'd still need some more clothes, most likely. I had no money, which possibly meant that I would have to get a job somewhere – and with recent history like mine, I had absolutely no idea how I'd do my resume.

"I don't know where I'll end up going." I heard Zoey say quietly, accompanied by a sigh.

"You'll find somewhere eventually." I told her, shifting back around so that I was facing the table. "I had no idea what I was going to do, and even though I've pretty much found a place now, I don't know if it'd end up working out or not."

"Well… I guess I'm also a bit worried about if I end up with the wrong people. I… really don't want to have that to happen."

"You'll be fine, I'm sure. You might end up striking lucky, and maybe even find a nice guy."

"Yeah, I might." Zoey giggled, then looking over her shoulder towards the toilets. "I hope everything's going okay in there."

"I'd be… pretty surprised if it wasn't."

And almost as if it was on cue, Izzy and Geoff walked out of the hallway, both laughing about something. "You're all good!" Izzy called, leaping up in the air.

"So I'm okay to move in?" I asked.

"Sure are, dudette!" Geoff replied with a grin and a thumbs up. "You can move tomorrow if you wanna."

"Oh… well, I guess I'll see how I go. It should be fine, but at this point I don't exactly know."

"Alright, s'all good!"

Dawn then came over with a fresh new cappuccino in hand and put it down in front of me.

"Thank you." I said with a slight nod of my head and a smile. "So I guess we'll be going back to your apartment once we're finished here?" I asked Izzy.

"Yep-yep, we should probably go back then." Izzy replied, laughing. "Today's been crazy."

"I know, right?" Zoey nodded in agreement. "Oh, that was one of the best lattes I've ever had."

"Well I did say they made the best coffees!"

I looked down at my own coffee and slowly picked the cup up, bringing it to my lips and taking a long, slow sip.

"Is it good?" Izzy asked as she watched in anticipation.

"Yep. Best I've had in a long time." I replied.

xx

 **Well… I know, these first few chapters aren't that exciting, but it's pretty much the beginning, really, so there's still quite a few characters to be introduced… one of which tomorrow…**

 **Anyway, that's the end of the first part! Hope you enjoyed reading c:**


	6. Chapter 5: New Digs, Old Friends

**Okay, here's the start to the next part, and as you can probably see, each part is (mostly) based around one word. Anyway, we get to see a few more characters now…**

Xx

 _ **Part 2 – Change**_

 _A lot of things changed for me, and for a minute I almost thought the changes were not going to stop coming. But at least I had a new home… for how long though?_

Xx

 _ **Chapter 5 – New Digs, Old Friends**_

Not much happened the next day. Helped with a bit of cleaning, ended up going with Izzy to the grocery store down the road, and washed all my clothes I bought.

But the day after, when Eva was apparently due to come back, was the day when I decided to make the move. And Hollywood was where I was going.

I wasn't exactly that into the celebrity craze, but just going to Hollywood to _live_ for… some amount of time still felt a bit surreal. Sure, I'd been to Beverly Hills (obviously), Malibu, Santa Monica Anaheim and Pasadena (where I was originally from), but not Hollywood. So in short, it would be a new experience for me. And what I hoped would be a good experience, too.

Everything was going to plan – I had all my clothes in a bag that Izzy let me borrow, and I still had the drawstring bag, which was sitting in my temporary room for the entire time that I had been there. I even had a wad of cash with me – at Izzy's insistence. She then told me that it was from Owen originally, who won a hundred thousand dollars in some competition the other week. So I had money too.

There was just one thing that had to be out of line – it was raining. Hard.

I had woken up that morning and was nothing but confused when I heard hundreds of raindrops hitting the tin roof. But not long after I got up, Izzy told me that rain was meant to come overnight, which apparently seemed to be accurate. But I had no time to think about rain – all that was on my mind was the fact that I had a little bit of a move ahead of me.

It was half past ten in the morning, and I was waiting in the living room area with my bags, sitting on the couch and watching TV. It had been a peaceful morning so far, and would have been more so if there was no rain. Zoey was sitting next to me, drinking a glass of apple juice and with a book on her lap. "What time's your bus?" She asked after putting her glass down on the nearby side table.

"I… think it was close to an hour from now." I replied, trying to remember when my bus would come. "Twenty-five past eleven?"

"Yep, that's right!' Izzy called from the kitchen.

"Okay, it _is_ twenty-five past eleven. Fifty minutes to go."

Fifty minutes somehow managed to go past way too fast, and I was standing at the driveway entrance to the apartment block, both bags I had packed with me. And fortunately the rain had stopped, but I knew there was more to come. I'd put the wad of cash (which had a rubber band around it) inside my drawstring bag, and had taken one note out to pay for the bus fare. I looked back at the apartments, just in time to see Zoey run down the steps.

"Wait!" She called as she got onto the driveway.

I put my bags down and looked at the spare watch I was given by one of the people from the apartment next door – twenty past eleven.

"I've got five minutes, so I guess it better be quick." I told Zoey with a shrug. And as soon as I'd said that, I was pulled into a massive hug, which I quickly returned.

"I'll miss you." Zoey said quietly, letting out a sigh. "I have no idea when we'll see each other again."

"Well… whatever happens will happen, and we'll just have to live with whatever life throws at us." I said as we pulled away.

"Okay…"

I picked my bags back up and stared down the road for a few seconds before slowly starting to walk off. I looked back at Zoey once I was about twenty feet down, and waved to her. I didn't get to see the response, but I somehow knew that she would have waved back anyway.

Once I got down to the corner, I heard a bus engine coming up behind me. I looked back, but saw that it was a bus to central Los Angeles – not quite where I was wanting to go. So I sat down inside the bus shelter and waited for the Hollywood bus. And just in time for it to start raining again.

I ended up having to wait at least ten minutes, as the bus had seemed to be delayed. But of course it eventually came, and I got on as soon as the doors opened. After handing the driver his money and sitting down close to the front, it left.

I didn't know where exactly I had to go, but I did know what stop I had to get off at – which was apparently right outside the apartment block Geoff lived in. I was told that he would be home, as well as one of his roommates, and to go to room 413 first.

Being pretty lost in thought, I only just managed to hear a voice pipe up from behind me.

"Uh… excuse me?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw an Asian girl with long pigtails in the seat behind me. She almost looked quite a bit like the other girl at Izzy's apartment block – Emma. But I had a feeling they wouldn't be related.

"Are you… okay?" The girl asked, seeming to have noticed me looking funny at her.

"Oh, sorry." I quickly apologised. "Just… you remind me of someone at my friend's apartment block."

"Is her name Emma?"

"Uh… yeah, it is."

"Oh, she's my sister!"

"Really?" I felt mildly surprised for a few seconds. "I didn't think you two would be related."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." The girl laughed. "Oh, you can call me Kitty! Just… do _not_ call me Katrina. I hate it so much."

"Okay… so what did you want to ask me?"

"Well… I was just wondering if you knew where the supermarkets are in Hollywood. I've just… got no classes today and I wanna get some stuff for my roommates."

"Oh… well, I actually don't know. I've never been to Hollywood before."

"You haven't?"

The conversation went on for the rest of the bus ride, which was mostly us talking about where we had and hadn't been to in Los Angeles – and even California. Once the bus went around a corner, I saw that my stop was coming up, quickly checking a small piece of paper to make sure. And at the same time, Kitty asked me a question I had been dreading.

"Hey, what's your name? I think you look kinda familiar too!"

I felt like a deer caught in headlights at that point. I opened my mouth to speak, but just ended up shutting it again. "Um… I'll have to tell you later, this is my stop!" I said far too quickly, grabbing my bags and bolting down the aisle, almost falling over in the process.

It took me just a couple of seconds to leap off the bus, stumble onto the pavement and somehow manage to drop my drawstring bag. I picked it back up, then ran under the shelter of a nearby tree. I looked back, and saw the bus drive off. Kitty was staring at me through the window, a confused expression on her face. I could only shift my gaze to the ground as I caught my breath.

Right then, it started raining heavier, and several drops leaked through the tree leaves and onto me. I ran out and over to the veranda of a rather flash looking block of apartments. I stopped and looked at the automatic door, the gears starting to turn in my head. It was right next to the bus stop, and looked to be at least six storeys high. Was this it?

I thought about it for a minute before deciding to go inside and see. I walked over to the elevators opposite the door and pressed the up button, the middle elevator immediately opening. I went inside and pressed the button for level four after hesitating for a couple of seconds. I still wasn't sure if it was the right one – what if it was across the road?

I was pulled out of my thoughts as the elevator dinged loudly, then opening its doors. I started to walk out, but stopped as a large, dark skinned guy came over to the entrance. I quickly looked up at the top – it was only level two.

"Sorry." I said, stepping back.

The guy simply smiled and nodded before coming in, pressing the button for level five. And just a few seconds later, the elevator was up at level four. I walked out into a mostly white hallway, apart from the carpet, which was black with the odd few coloured squares – red, blue, yellow and everything in between. I looked down to the left, seeing several windows along the far side of the wall, and beige coloured doors on the other. A shiver ran down my spine as my mind was somewhat flooded with memories from back at the mansion, but I shook them off – I had to find room 413.

I decided to go down the left side first, and looked at the numbers of each door I went past – 405, 404, 403… I seemed to be going in the wrong direction. I quickly turned around and walked towards the other end, going past all the doors until I got to room 410. I froze for a few seconds, but saw that there was something around the corner. I ran around it, but stopped when I saw that it was an open laundry door.

"Someone there?" A voice called from inside the laundry.

I quickly stepped back, deciding that I didn't want to be found. But in that case I was out of luck – a short girl with brown hair, most of it being in a very high ponytail, ran out from the laundry and quickly noticed me. "Are you… uh, looking for someone?" She asked. "There's more apartments through the other door in here!"

I wasn't too sure what the girl meant, but then realized – there was a door on the other side of the laundry, which lead to more apartments. "There's more apartments?" I repeated.

"Uh huh!" The girl nodded eagerly. "Come through here and I'll show you!"

I could only follow her through the laundry, which also had white walls, but a light blue lino floor. And sure enough, there was a door on the other side of the room.

"Oh, thanks!" I said to the girl, hoisting my slowly-slipping drawstring bag up over my shoulder.

"No problem! If you need more help, then I'm in apartment 409! Oh, and I'm Beth!" The girl smiled.

"Okay!" I walked across the room and pushed the other door open.

The new hallway was no different than the first one, only of course with more rooms and no elevators. There did seem to be a stairwell at the end of the hallway though.

I turned right and walked down the side, passing apartments, 411, 412… 413. This was Geoff's apartment. I knocked on the door three times and stepped back, waiting for someone to answer the door. At least a minute passed, and no one had come. So I knocked another three times. Still nothing for thirty seconds, and at that point I considered going back round to the other side and down to the ground floor. I started to walk back down to the laundry, but just as the door opened.

"What?" A voice asked, sounding a bit peeved.

I stopped in my tracks – that definitely wasn't Geoff. I looked over my shoulder and the first thing that caught my eye was a green mohawk. Despite still feeling slightly shocked, it took me a few minutes to notice other features – multiple piercings, blue eyes… which were looking right back at my own dark brown eyes. I felt myself slowly stepping towards the end of the hallway – I didn't want to go, but at the same time I did.

"Hang on, don't go anywhere." The guy said, stepping out into the hallway. "What do you want?"

For a second I couldn't remember what I was going to say, which did confuse me, as I normally never got scared. But this guy seemed to be pretty intimidating… unless he actually was annoyed about something. Eventually though, I found my words again, and they fell out slower than I thought they would.

"Is… Geoff in there?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly.

"Oh, you're looking for Geoff. I'll just go get him." The guy stepped back into the apartment, then calling out. "Dude, there's some chick here who wants to see you."

"Coming!" A much more familiar voice called back, and a few seconds later, Geoff jogged out, almost immediately noticing me. "Oh, what's up dudette?" He said cheerfully. "You alright there?"

"Well… I guess so." I replied, letting out a deep breath.

"You- oh, right…" Geoff looked over his shoulder. "Dude, can you stop scaring new chicks when they come up here?" He asked, walking back inside. "It's kinda not cool."

"Come on, I just found out where my ex actually is a few minutes ago, and you expect me to be all fluffy and crap?" The other guy retorted. "And I thought _I_ was apparently the problem in that relationship."

"Just… don't do it again, man."

I waited there as the conversation continued, but it only lasted another minute or so, and Geoff was back in the hallway. "Sorry about that, Duncan's just not a happy dude today." He told me. "Oh, you'll be in 414, where my girlfriend is! I told her that you'd be coming, so there's another bed set up for you."

"So do I just… go in there right now?" I asked, walking over to the door.

"Uh… I'll check to see if she's home. Her friend Leshawna might be."

Leshawna… that name definitely rang a bell. I was friends with a girl called Leshawna prior to my Playboy mansion days. But before I could say anything else, Geoff had opened the ajar door.

"Hey Bridge, you in here?" He called, pushing the door wide open.

"Yeah?" A voice called back. A voice that I knew… very well.

"Bridgette?" I exclaimed.

"Hold on… Gwen? It's you who's coming?"

xx

 **Welp, there's one chapter out of the way. Next new characters won't be for a while…. Although there is a couple of cameos… anyway, next chapter up this time next week as per usual. Now if I can get it up earlier than like 10pm at night…**


	7. Chapter 6: Lips Are Sealed

**New goal for me: stop leaving chapter edits right up to the last minute.**

xx

 _ **Chapter 7 – Lips Are Sealed**_

I didn't know it was possible to feel so happy that I wanted to yell and scream for joy. Not like it happened, but I almost felt that way. It had only been three months since I last saw Bridgette, but it felt like a lifetime.

I shook my head in astonishment and bolted inside the apartment, dumping my bags a few feet away from the door and ran into what looked to be a living room area. The first person I saw was a green-eyed blonde with tanned skin standing just in front of a white leather couch. My only friend during the early days at the mansion – Bridgette.

"How… how did you get here?" Bridgette suddenly asked. "Did you… leave as well or something?"

"Sort of…" I replied. "It's a really long story."

"But… you're here though… and I'd thought I'd never see you again!"

It was unusual for something like this to happen so fast, but before I knew it we were both hugging each other tightly. I felt tears stinging at my eyes, and tried to fight them back.

"Who'd ya say was here?" I heard a voice call from a nearby hallway… _another_ familiar voice.

"Oh, just a friend… that I knew back at the mansion." Bridgette called back as we pulled apart. "You can come out and meet her if you want!"

"Okay, I'm comin'."

I stepped back a couple of feet, just as someone else walked into the room, and suddenly I was pulled into a massive hug.

"Girl, I thought back at Burbank was gonna be the last I saw of you! Where the _heck_ have you been all this time?" The familiar voice asked – it was one of my oldest friends, Leshawna.

I looked at Bridgette and could only choke out a laugh as I saw her rather confused expression. "Leshawna, I don't think Bridgette… well, understands this." I said, having to raise my voice slightly.

"Yeah, I don't get this at all!" Bridgette added, shaking her head and laughing. "How do you guys know each other?"

"You don't?" Leshawna repeated as she let go of me. "Alright, alright, let's go over to the sofas and talk."

"You ladies all good in here?" I heard Geoff call from the outer hallway.

"Yeah, we're fine now!" Bridgette called back.

"Alright, sweet!"

I went over to a velvety blue sofa and sat down on one end, with Bridgette sitting on the other end, and Leshawna taking the leather couch. "So… well, first off, did I… miss much?" I asked.

"Not a lot, actually." Bridgette replied. "It's been pretty relaxed over the past couple of weeks… uh, what are you looking at?"

"Me?"

"No, Leshawna."

I turned to face Leshawna, and noticed that she was looking funny at me. I could do nothing but feel absolutely confused.

"Leshawna, what is it?" Bridgette asked.

"Girl, I think you've changed." Leshawna eventually said. "What's made ya so… what's the word… uh, reserved?"

"Changed?" I repeated, shaking my head. Not once had I thought about or noticed any changes to my personality.

"Well… I guess I can see a small change, but it's not that much." Bridgette put in.

It only made me feel more and more confused. I didn't notice any changes, and nor did Izzy or Zoey.

"But… I don't exactly feel different." I said, gesturing to myself.

"Oh come on, you were not like this at all two years ago." Leshawna told me, standing up.

It was awkwardly quiet for several minutes at least. I thought about what could have made me change, if I had changed. A couple of years _had_ passed since I last saw Leshawna, which could probably be part of it. And of course, the most obvious one – being stuck at that dreaded mansion for nine months. But I just couldn't see myself going through any changes during that time.

"Well... don't forget that she did come from the same place as me." Bridgette said, looking over her shoulder at something. "That definitely had an impact on... all of the girls, really."

"Oh, well yeah, that's true." Leshawna nodded. "Hey, how'd ya get outta that place anyway?"

I felt my shoulders relax as I let out a heavy sigh and sat up in my seat - it was story time. "Well for starters, I didn't actually leave the proper way."

"Wait, how did you then?" Bridgette asked.

"Izzy came over in the middle of the night and helped me escape."

"You... _escaped_? But isn't that… impossible?"

"Not really, if you count the side gate we used that no one else has ever even seen before. And… climbing down the fire escape ladder too."

It was… quiet again for a few minutes or more, and I just sat back, waiting for them to take it all in. Of course, I did know that Leshawna probably wouldn't know that much about the mansion at all, but Bridgette was probably going over in her head how I was actually able to get out of there in the dead of the night.

"Do I… need to explain it more?" I asked, causing Bridgette to suddenly shake her head – I could only presume she was lost in thought.

"Oh, no, it's fine." She said, nodding and laughing somewhat nervously. "But isn't the security… really high?"

"That's what I thought it was. But where that side gate is, there's a bunch of empty bedrooms that overlook them – one of them being Izzy's. So because of that… they just decided to not have any guards watching the area."

Leshawna burst out laughing at that point, and I could do nothing but join in after a few seconds. I came to the realization that it did sound pretty ridiculous – and I had even thought that just before I actually made the escape.

"So you're tellin' me, there's nobody watching those empty bedrooms, and nobody knows about that damn side gate?" Leshawna asked, somehow managing to get it out between gasps of laughter.

"Pretty much." I shrugged. "There's even a massive window in between bedrooms, and I think it's practically opposite the side gate."

That did enough to set Bridgette off as well, and soon we were slouched over in our seats, laughing so hard neither of us made much of a noise.

"Hoo boy…" Leshawna chuckled, panting slightly as she regained her composure. "That's the best thing I've heard in a long time!"

"So do you think they'll amp up the security now that you've… well, left?" Bridgette asked. "And… was it just you with Izzy?"

"They probably will, if they're that concerned about another girl going missing." I replied, straightening myself up. "And Zoey came with us too."

"Zoey? But haven't either of the reserves… desperately wanted to leave at this point?"

"Well… Zoey was worried about it, I guess. She even said that she didn't want to come once I'd gotten down to the ground. But… we talked her into it, and I think she is pretty glad she joined us. I have no idea what state she'd be in with still being there and knowing exactly what had happened that night."

"Oh… that makes sense. I haven't really met her, but I think that sounds like something she would do?"

Confusion clouded my mind for a few seconds as I was trying to work out what Bridgette was referring to, but it seemed to come back. "You mean her being not sure about leaving with us?" I asked. "Me and Izzy, I mean."

"Yeah, that's what I meant." Bridgette nodded. "Anyway, I… wait, crap, isn't it shopping day?"

"Oh, dang it, I forgot!" Leshawna exclaimed, slapping her forehead. "Imma go get it now." She got up and went down the hallway. "Is there a list on the fridge?" She called.

"Uh…" Bridgette shifted around in her seat, eventually seeming to spot what I thought was a list. "Yeah, there's a list! And I don't think there's too much this week…"

Leshawna came back out after five or so minutes, a small handbag over her shoulder. I decided to stand up at that point, and decided that I could do with a little self-tour.

"Is it alright if I have a look around this place?" I asked Bridgette, who had picked up the TV remote.

"Oh, sure!" She replied, nodding and smiling. "There's three bedrooms and a bathroom, yours is second on the left."

"Okay… and I better get my bags as well. I just left them by the door."

"Alright, Imma goin' now." Leshawna said, walking towards the door. "You sure there's nothing else you wanna add?"

"Not really, I think I did do a check for what we did and didn't have after work yesterday." Bridgette replied.

I walked out from in between the sofa and ran over to get my bags, then running back round and into the hallway. I slowed down to a halt as I looked in the first room on the left, which appeared to be Bridgette's – mostly blue, dolphin pictures on the wall, a surfboard at the foot of the bed… it definitely looked the part.

I went down and came to the second room, which was open, and I peered inside. It was nothing special – just a plain white room with the basic necessities – bed, wardrobe, dresser, nightstand, even a small bookcase, which was of course empty. I walked in and dumped my bags on the grey and black bedspread, then going out across the hallway, into the bathroom.

"Gwen, can you come in here for a second?" Bridgette suddenly called. "Sorry, but it's… pretty urgent."

And my tour was dismissed… temporarily. I stepped out of the bathroom and walked back down to the main area, where Bridgette was still seated on the sofa. I sat down where I had been earlier and turned to face her. "So… uh, what is it you want to tell me?" I asked.

Bridgette let out a deep breath before talking – something told me that it was pretty big. "You know how the paparazzi went crazy over us whenever we weren't at the mansion?" She said slowly. "And I hear that… what's her name… oh, Dakota attracted a few more?"

"Yeah and… well, yeah, she did." I nodded.

"Since you're not at the mansion… at all, they'll be even worse, because… practically the whole city's going to go nuts about your disappearance."

"Okay…"

"But because of all that… it'd be best for you to avoid any sort of media, from news reporters, magazine editors… maybe even photographers that aren't involved in the paparazzi. Just… you could end up in pretty serious trouble, if you got caught on some camera footage from a news programme, and it gets as far as the mansion… in fact, it probably would anyway."

It took me several long minutes to really think about what Bridgette had just said. Sure, I definitely didn't want the media right on my tail after escaping – or even worse, end up back at that wretched mansion and get given… 'special' duties. But at the same time, I was feeling pretty confused – if I was to avoid all media at all costs, then I had no idea how I'd be able to do it, especially with my hair colour and pale skin being a real standout.

"How do I do that then?" I asked. "I could be recognised by… anyone, just like that. I can't walk around town as I am." I gestured to my face. "Anyone could have my hair colour, but pair it up with my pale skin, and I'm like a black sheep in a field of white ones."

Another bout of minutes slowly slid past, and I looked out the nearby window as Bridgette thought long and hard… at least that was what I hoped she was doing. "Well… I can't really think of anything to help there, other than a haircut…" she paused for a few seconds, "but I don't think that would do a lot to disguise you."

"Oh yeah, a plain old haircut wouldn't work at all… but what could?" I looked up and racked my brain for any ideas, but all that I could think of was hilariously bad disguises.

"You do… promise that you won't say anything to any sort of media though, right?"

It only took me a few seconds to decide – like I wanted to be back at the fun house again. "Yeah, I promise." I said, nodding. "And whatever happens in terms of… well, making me a bit more obscure, I hope it does work out."

"Alright." Bridgette smiled before standing up. "I don't know about you, but I'm a bit hungry now… all that thinking's done my head in." She walked over to the cupboard and opened it, pulling out a small box of what looked to be biscuits.

"What flavour?" I asked, standing up.

"Is double chocolate alright? And they're… not too big or small either, in case you were wondering."

Ooh wow. Double chocolate. "I'll have two." I said with a snicker.

"Okay." Bridgette laughed as she opened the box and pulled three biscuits out. "So… did I miss out on anything at the mansion that was actually exciting?"

"Not really… if the challenges count as exciting. Which they don't."

"Oh… wait, I overheard from Izzy about some sort of… special surprise challenge this weekend… what was it?"

I fell back onto my seat in shock, but started laughing once I realized what it meant. "Thank you Izzy, wherever you are! Thank you!" I shouted, leaping back up. "No way was I going to do that challenge anyway, I would have kicked one of the other reserves in. I still have no idea what was going to happen with it, even though it's this weekend, but not even the butlers were looking forward to it."

"Well… I'm glad I decided to leave before the challenges even started!" Bridgette said, starting to laugh as well. "Were they even _legal_?"

"Probably not, but guess who doesn't give a crap about that stuff?"

"Yeah… oh, I think Leshawna will be back in a couple of minutes. I guess I better start sorting out what we're having with the chicken for dinner."

Xx

 **Next chapter will be up usual time probably, unless I can get myself to update it a few hours earlier xD**


	8. Chapter 7: Complete Makeover

**Bit late, sorry D: guess I was thinking about… a lot of other things last night xD**

xx

 _ **Chapter 7 – Complete Makeover**_

I felt a lot more relaxed after spending another day at my new home… however long I'd end up being there. The day after that, however, it was looking to be a bit sunny, and I had (sort of) decided that I wanted to go out for the day.

It was pretty early in the morning, and I had been awake for about thirty minutes, just sitting on the couch and writing in my diary. Bridgette and Leshawna both appeared to be still asleep, and it also didn't look to be raining outside, which was good.

A sudden knock gave me such a fright, that I very nearly drew a massive line across the page. I could only groan and tossed my diary onto the coffee table, then standing up and walking over to the door. I was only in my midnight blue and black pyjamas – with a black sweater overtop – but I was probably decent enough for this time of the morning. I reached for the door handle, but hesitated as I heard some muffled words from outside.

"Is someone at the door?" Bridgette called from her bedroom, sounding a bit half-asleep.

I had no time to reply, because my hand was suddenly turning the door handle. I then thought that it was possibly Geoff, just to check up on us, and maybe make sure that I was settling in alright. I opened the door, and surprise, it was… not Geoff.

"Uh… what is it?" I asked a rather sheepish looking Duncan, who had his hands in his pockets.

"Well…" he began, taking his hands out and looking at me with his… somewhat tantalizing blue eyes, "my ex-girlfriend dumped me… about nine months ago now, and a few minutes before you arrived, I'd just found out that she's moved on… big time."

"What do you mean by that?" And why was he telling me this anyway?

"She took up a spot at the new Playboy mansion a month later. And is apparently sitting right at the top now."

"Right at the top?" I repeated. Sounded _quite_ familiar. "Let me guess, her name's Courtney, she's all about her being a CIT, and is a whiny bitch."

"You… got that right. How did you know?"

I froze for a few seconds and looked over my shoulder. Bridgette was in her blue pyjamas and standing a few feet away from the hallway. She eventually shrugged, which I presumed that I was okay to spill the beans.

"Because I was there as well." I said, turning back to face Duncan, whose eyes almost immediately went wide at what I said. "Oh, and I left it a few nights ago… no, I escaped. With the help of one of another girl who'd… sort of left some time earlier. She's a bit nuts to say the absolute least."

A… very awkward silence followed. All I could do was just stand there, looking off to the side for no apparent reason.

"Gwen, are you… done yet?" Bridgette asked. "It's just that I've… _just_ gotten a great idea, but we really need to get going if it's gonna happen."

I decided that I was finished in a matter of seconds and walked back inside, going around to the kitchen, but stopped when I noticed Bridgette looking towards the doorway with a slight smirk.

"Did I miss something?' I asked as the door shut.

"Yeah, I think Duncan likes you." She replied, giggling. "I know it's been only a few days, but… well, he was staring after you as you came back in.'

"Are you serious? I just moved here on Sunday, haven't got a lot of money, and I still need to actually sort out what I'm gonna do with my life. And now you tell me that guy likes me."

"Hey, he doesn't normally look at girls like that. Normally he's got a bit of a smirk on his face, but… that time he just raised an eyebrow."

"Did I hear that right or has Gwen got a guy runnin' after her already?" Leshawna called from her bedroom.

"Not _running after_ me!" I hastily replied, and went to say more, but missed my chance.

"Yeah, I think she will very soon." Bridgette added with another giggle. "And I think it's gonna be Duncan."

"Ooh, damn girl!" Leshawna laughed as she came out to the hallway. "Oh, and you said you… got an idea?"

"Oh! Well yeah, I do! It's going to involve a visit to the hair salon and a bit of shopping… maybe."

"What's going on?" I asked, stepping back slightly. "Don't try and make me dye my hair bright pink or something. That is _not_ happening."

Bridgette just started laughing, leaving me to stand there, wondering what the heck she was on about. "If you want to blend in and hide yourself from media, then you'd probably have to change your entire look." She said, giggling again.

"Does that mean fake tans and big, bright hair?" That was a massive no-no. I was not going there.

"Oh, no, we're not gonna make you sit in a tanning bed for twenty minutes!"

"Girl, maybe let Gwen decide for herself." Leshawna suggested.

"Well… I guess we'll have to see how it goes. But we better get ready and have breakfast as soon as possible though, today's a mission!"

I didn't really know what happened for the next half hour, but everything was a blur; rushing in and out of the shower, just about tripping over as I got dressed, and gulping down a brief breakfast of peanut butter on toast.

Once I'd finished doing my hair (which I had just left loose), Bridgette came down and told me to stand against my closed bedroom door as she took a photo of me.

"Just to show what you looked like before the makeover." She said sunnily, putting her phone away in her bag. "Okay, let's go!"

I followed her out and around to the hallway, where Leshawna was waiting. Being the last one out, I closed the door behind me, then stopped suddenly.

"Is… there a key?" I asked, looking around.

"Oh, we have swipe cards here, so the door automatically locks on the outside when you shut it." Bridgette explained, pulling a blue and white card out of her shorts pocket to show me. "You can get your own one from the reception I think?"

"What are you ladies up to?" Geoff called from his apartment, which appeared to be open.

"Oh, nothing! Gwen's just gonna come back… looking a bit different."

"A bit different?"

"You just gotta wait and see." Leshawna snickered.

"Uh… alright then!"

From then on it was another blur, bolting down the hallway and through the laundry, nearly running into a rather short guy with dark skin along the way, around to the elevators and before I knew it, we were standing at the bus stop.

"So where are we going to?" I asked, looking left for any buses that could be coming.

"Central city." Bridgette replied. "There's apparently a really good salon there, so I guess it'd be best to try it out!"

"But I thought this was some big… mission or something. Actually, I don't… know what exactly I want." Correction – I had no idea what I wanted.

"Oh, don't worry, from what I've heard, the prices are pretty reasonable. You'll be fine!"

"Bus!" Leshawna suddenly shouted.

I looked to my left again, and saw a bus turning the corner, a Central City sign on the top. It stopped in front of us, and I went to walk on, but was instead dragged on by Bridgette, who quickly paid the driver as she went past him, and pulled me over to a right seat near the front.

"I can get on the bus myself, you know." I joked. "I've got arms, I've got legs."

"Sorry, but… it's just so exciting!" Bridgette laughed, putting her bag down at her feet. "Oh, I hope we don't get stuck in the school traffic… it could still be a bit blocked up. What is the time anyway?"

"Quarter past eight." Leshawna replied as she sat down in front of us, sounding a bit surprised. "Thought it was a bit later than that."

The bus pulled out onto the road, and it was only a couple of minutes before we had to get off again, apparently outside a subway station. Although I still felt a bit confused, I just followed Bridgette and Leshawna down the steps and onto the waiting train. I managed to see a screen with a timetable, showing that the train was due to leave very soon.

"Is it a long ride from here to the city?" I asked as I sat down on a sideward facing seat.

"Thirty minutes, I think." Bridgette said, already seated across from me. "There's nine stops for the whole ride, including here and Los Angeles, and… I don't know if there'll be a delay – last two times I was on one there was."

I sat back as the doors shut and seconds later, the subway train started to move away from the station. It had been a long time since I was last on one of these, yet somehow it just felt like normal, as I'd always caught the subway to school from sixth grade onwards.

Thirty minutes passed, and we were in the middle of Los Angeles. The train station was packed, and I even lost Bridgette for a few seconds at one point. The whole time, I was thinking that with this many people at the station, it could be possible for a few to recognize me, which was of course the last thing I wanted. But once I got out onto the street, the crowds had thinned out quite a bit, and I could see where I was going at last.

"So where's this salon, hm?" Leshawna asked.

"Um… I think it's a couple of blocks away?" Bridgette said, sounding unsure. "I know it's not that far from the station… but not where exactly."

A couple of blocks later, we'd arrived at the salon – and it didn't look that shabby either. Whatever I was going to have done to my hair, I could only hope that it didn't take as long as… three hours or something.

First up was a hair wash, which only took fifteen minutes. But all throughout that time, Bridgette and Leshawna were both darting between there and the rack of hair colours, bringing back several at a time to show me. Shades of blonde, brown, ginger, even a jet black. Nothing was impressing me though – all of them just didn't seem good enough to make me unrecognisable.

Once I was done with the wash, it was over to the salon chair, and at that point I had already decided to get my hair cut short – just above chin length. Although Leshawna had given up, Bridgette, who was very excited about the whole ordeal, was still shoving hair colours in my face, with the odd unnatural colour starting to show up in the mix. As many times as I'd said no, the hairdresser seemed to be quite understanding, and remained patient as the colours kept coming.

At least forty minutes later, my hair had been shortened considerably, and I was still undecided with colours. Bridgette seemed to be on the verge of giving up, having gone through just about every single hair colour the salon could offer, and was sitting on a nearby stool. My own head was also about to explode – if nothing suited me, what the heck would?

I looked out the window, and saw a guy and a girl walking past. Both seemed to be… very pale skinned, and were wearing mostly reds and blacks. The guy, who was quite a bit taller, had red and black hair that ran down the back of his neck, while the girl had white and raven black hair, the long bangs almost covering her eyes, which I could tell had a fair amount of black eyeliner or something similar around them. Goths, they appeared to be.

That was when an idea struck me.

"Bridgette, are there any… darker colours?" I asked, looking over my shoulder. "Unnatural ones, I guess."

Bridgette leapt up as soon as the words came out of my mouth. "Darker… unnatural colours?" She repeated. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. I've got an idea."

"Okay…"

I watched Bridgette walk over to the colour wall, and she stood there for a few minutes, grabbing a few palettes which I couldn't quite see. "There's not that many, but I've got… three here." She said, turning around and walking back. "They're all… pretty much darker versions of some that I showed you earlier, but there's a purple, a navy, and a… teal, I think."

I turned back to face the mirror as Bridgette put the palettes in front of me. The purple seemed a bit too girlish, and I didn't really like the shade of navy. But the dark teal looked just about perfect.

"The dark teal should work." I told Bridgette, who audibly sighed once I'd said that. "But… I don't know if it's that great by itself?"

"Oh… why don't you use black as well?" Bridgette suggested.

I looked over at the colour wall. Black could definitely work with the teal, if I wanted to pull off a Goth look.

Two hours of styling, hair dye and sudden shopping later, I was sitting on the bus from the subway station to the apartments. And for once, I couldn't stop looking at myself in the reflections around the place – I actually looked amazing.

My hair was pretty much half black, half dark teal, and both colours were done in chunky stripes. A few stray hair at the top of my forehead had turned teal, which the hairdresser had offered to chop off, but I told her it was fine.

Once the bus slowed down outside the apartment block, I was quick to get off, excitement bubbling up inside me. I'd even gotten some black eyeliner from the salon, and a lipstick which a street girl had made out of chap-stick and blue paint – and it was the same colour as the teal in my hair.

I was finally free to go anywhere without getting easily recognised. But I still had to lay low – I had no idea what would happen in the next month or so.

xx

 **Hopefully the next chapter will be up on time next week XD until then though, stay tuned!**


	9. Chapter 8 News is Out

**Here I am, posting this** _ **way**_ **later than it should have been, but oh well. xD**

xx

 _ **Chapter 8 – News is Out**_

I was the talk of the entire storey for the rest of the day – everyone was amazed at my transformation. And I had to admit, I thought it was pretty incredible as well.

As soon as we did get back from the outing, Bridgette had me in the hallway for another photo, all dressed up in some of the new clothes I'd bought earlier. Not all of them were new, though. I had bought a few second hand items from a small stall at a market down the road, which included a set of cut-off sleeves from old tops, a black miniskirt with small pockets – coincidentally the same colour as the teal in my hair, and a thin black choker.

A couple of days later, I was sitting on my bed, looking at the two photos that were taken that day. I couldn't help but think that it was two different people – I nearly couldn't recognize myself. But I knew that I'd get used to it eventually.

It was also raining that day, and all three of us were sitting around, not really too sure on what to do.

"You guys hungry?" Bridgette called from the kitchen. "I think there's still some of those cupcakes left from last Tuesday."

I put the photos down on the pillow and reached over for the small alarm clock I had been lent by Leshawna – it was getting close to eleven o'clock. I was a bit hungry, but I wasn't sure if a cupcake was what I wanted.

"Well… kinda." I heard Leshawna call back from her room. "But girl, why don't ya turn the TV on and we could have some chips and dip or somethin'?"

Chips and dip sounded a bit more appetizing – it even got me walking down to the living area. "I second that, I guess." I chipped in as I came through the doorway.

"Do we have chips though?" Bridgette wondered, reaching to open the kitchen cupboard, but she stopped. "Wait, that's right, those were both on the shopping list the other day! We could definitely have some of those." She opened the cupboard, reaching in for something.

I decided to make myself useful and went to open the fridge. Of course it was pretty full, so I didn't quite know what dips there were, and where.

"The dips kinda… moved to the back last night." I heard Leshawna say from what sounded like several feet away.

"Oh… okay…" I stepped back, scanning the shelves for anything that suspiciously looked like a container of dip. "What shelf are they on?" I asked, stepping back even further.

"Girl, you go sit down, Imma get 'em."

"Did you just say Armageddon?" Bridgette exclaimed.

"I wouldn't think so." I told her whilst holding back a laugh.

"Nope, I said, Imma get 'em." Leshawna repeated her words slowly so that it was clearer. "Damn, and I thought I wasn't hard to hear."

"Well that _is_ true!" Bridgette laughed as she sat down on the couch, a bag of plain sea salt chips on the coffee table.

"Ooh yeah, they're gon' _get it_ if they mess with Shawnie. Hoo boy, that reminds me of one time, I was at the club, and this skinny white girl pushes in front of me in the bar line."

"What did you do?" I asked as I sat down on one end of the sofa.

Leshawna closed the fridge and walked over with a container of hummus dip, putting it on the table and taking a seat on the other end of the sofa before replying. "That bitch got a big yanking by her hair." She said, to which Bridgette gasped at. "And then when she called me a… ton of names which Imma still tryin' to remember, I grabbed some person's drink and tipped it all down her hair… and a heck of a lot of people were standin' round laughing."

"Then what happened?" I was finding this quite hilarious.

"Girl ran straight out of the club screaming. She looked half Asian or somethin', so part of it makes sense."

I sat up with a jolt and looked at Bridgette – that was ringing bells left right and centre. "What did she look like?" I asked, reaching over to grab a chip from the open packet.

"Hm…" Leshawna looked up for a few seconds. "Long hair – raven black… uh, dark red crop top…"

I looked at Bridgette again as the description went on – once Leshawna said 'tacky little high-heeled sandals', we both yelled out at the same time. "Heather!" We shouted, bursting out laughing not even a second after.

"Who now?" Leshawna exclaimed, looking rather confused. "Wait, she's that skank who read out your diary, right?" She looked at me.

"Yep, that's her." I nodded, trying to calm my laughter down.

Before either me or Bridgette had the chance to regain our composure, Leshawna started hooting with laughter, and eventually, I was sitting on my knees, on the floor, with my forehead resting on the coffee table. My cheeks were almost burning with pain, but right then I didn't care at all.

"Alright, let's turn the TV on and start eating this stuff before the guys decide to come in and steal some." Bridgette said after a heavy sigh.

I lifted my head up and pulled myself back onto the sofa, just in time to see the blank TV screen burst into life.

"Alright, what's on…?" Leshawna muttered, flicking through the channels. "Oh come on, this is all sport. Who the heck snuck in _here_ to watch this?"

"Someone from next door." Bridgette replied with a giggle. "Let's not worry about that now though."

I stared at the screen as the channels passed, but then stopped once it got to a screening of some season of X Factor, somewhere in the world. A guy looked to have just finished singing, and the judges were ready to speak.

"Oh, I don't think I've seen this…" Leshawna said slowly, putting the remote down.

"I don't think I recognise any of the judges… but the first two judges don't… look that happy…" Bridgette added, gulping slightly. "I hope it's not bad…"

It turned out that it was… in a way. The second judge – a woman, started berating the guy on copying her husband, who appeared to be the guy to her right. And the reasoning sounded ridiculous.

"What even is this?" I shook my head, sighing.

"She's… definitely got a problem!" Bridgette commented.

It went on for a couple of minutes, until another female judge spoke up, and said that he look like the first judge – he looked _better_. Which of course the audience cheered loudly to in response.

"Oh, BURN!' Leshawna hollered, laughing. "That'll get her!"

I couldn't help snickering as the judge finished her comments, and I managed to pick up somewhere in there that it was the first live show. How stupid for something to happen so early into those.

"What live show was it?' Bridgette asked. "I didn't catch it."

"The first one." I told her.

"Say what now?" Leshawna exclaimed. "The _first_ live show? You gotta be kidding."

"Uh… no, that's what the blonde judge said.

"Damn…"

Then it seemed to fast forward to the elimination episode – and the second two judges were the only ones there.

"Now what's happened?" Bridgette asked, sounding a bit confused.

We waited for another minute, and then Leshawna whooped loudly as the news finally came – those two judges, who were… well, a bit too judgemental, had been fired.

"Now _that's_ what I'm talking about." She said, clapping. "Who're they gonna get in to replace them?"

I looked up for a few seconds as I thought about it – who _would_ be their replacements?

"It's hard when you don't know what country it's in." Bridgette said. "Well… I don't really know what this is anyway. It's just went from one episode to the next, and the first one hadn't even properly finished."

A few minutes into this second episode, I decided that it wasn't that great. I looked at Bridgette, who seemed to be staring blankly at the screen, and then turned to Leshawna, who wasn't even watching. So I reached over for the remote and went up a channel, and screening at the moment was a comedy show. I slowly put the remote back down on the table, hesitating for a few seconds.

"Are you guys… alright with the channel change?" I looked at the other two as I sat back.

"Oh, it's fine!" Bridgette nodded, smiling.

"Girl, I don't even know what that X Factor thing was all about, so you're all good." Leshawna put in, dunking a large chip in the basil dip.

A very long ten minutes went past, and neither of us seemed to be enjoying it. The humour was quite dull, and only Leshawna let out a slight chuckle every now and then. I just stared at the screen the entire time, thinking over and over in my head how incredibly stupid this show was. The only good thing that happened was the rain stopping somewhere in the middle of it.

"Is there anything else on that's at least better than this?" Bridgette asked.

I'd had enough of the comedy crap, so I stood up and walked over to the balcony door, slowly sliding it open and stepping outside. The warm breeze and patchy sunlight made it feel no different than inside. I decided to have a look at the surrounding area. To the left of the apartments were… well, more apartments, and a few small shops down the far end of the street. To the right, I could see the central city buildings, and of course, Beverly Hills. I was never going to get away from it, really.

I looked straight ahead as I thought about the mansion, and everyone else there, of course. What exactly _were_ they doing about me disappearing? Had they found another girl, or picked up another reserve to replace Zoey? As much as I was glad – more than glad actually – to be out of there at last, I still wanted to know what had happened. I then wondered if Izzy could be of any use, since she'd managed to sneak around the place so many times without being noticed.

Another thought suddenly drifted into my mind – Courtney. The fact that she had gone out with Duncan sometime in the past almost seemed laughable – they were complete opposites, in every single way possible. Courtney was very uptight, professional at her best and… pretty wild at her worst. Duncan seemed to be a typical bad boy, with his piercings and mohawk.

"Uh… Gwen?" Bridgette called from inside. "I don't know if you want to see this or not, but…"

I turned around and went back inside, sitting down where I had been a few minutes ago. I looked up at the TV screen, just as the opening of a news programme flashed across.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at my friend, who was suddenly a little bit pale.

"You… you'll see." She stammered in reply. Bad news then.

I sat back as the opening article started, which was on some program somewhere in Africa, and had been the most successful in a very long time. I did think it was pretty great, but I was more interested (or worried if it was bad) about what Bridgette wanted me to see.

And after another article about American economy, it came. A picture of me with my long brown hair on one side of the screen, and a picture of Zoey on the other. For a few seconds, I was almost lost for words. I kept on staring at the screen as the news presenter elaborated on what happened, and then the bombshell hit. They were looking for us. Looking for me. They wanted me back at the mansion, apparently because I was next in line after Heather and Courtney to girlfriend number one. Which I never even knew about until then.

"Crap…" I choked out – it was all I managed to say at that point. " _I_ was the one third in line three months ago?"

"I thought it was Lindsay!" Bridgette exclaimed. "Just because of… where Heather's at, I guess. It only made sense."

I stared ahead blankly, slowly shaking my head. I had thought I was safe, even with my new hairdo, clothes, make-up, everything. Then that had to happen. The security guards and paparazzi _had_ to go searching for me.

"Girl, I'm sure you'll be fine since you got your hair did." Leshawna said, moving a bit closer and putting an arm on my shoulder.

"But… what if it doesn't do me any favours?" I very nearly shouted, leaping up. "I can't be out there if other people still recognise me!"

"Come on, if I thought you were someone else after coming back with a coffee, then I dunno who wouldn't."

Nerves, anger, astonishment, all bubbling up inside me. I felt myself getting hotter as my breaths became quicker and sharper. I tried to speak, but nothing was able to come out. I couldn't understand what was going on. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bridgette leap up and grab me by the shoulders, pushing me out to the hallway.

"Get a paper bag, I think she's hyperventilating!" She shouted to Leshawna.

I found myself being lead into my room, and I dropped like a rock onto the edge of the bed. My breathing was completely out of control, and I felt tears stinging at my eyes. Bridgette instructed me to try and take deep breaths, which I duly did, but they got interrupted by shorter ones. I tried and tried, until Leshawna came running in with a brown paper bag, already opened. I quickly took the bag and started breathing into it, yet still, nothing happened.

"Girl, focus on the bag." Leshawna told me. "Focus on it going out, and then in again. Out, and in."

I tried the new technique, and although it was very slow, it ended up working pretty well. Five minutes in, and I was breathing normally at last. Despite that, I still had to breathe into the bag until I felt completely relaxed.

"You ladies okay?" I heard Geoff call from the main hallway.

"Yeah, we're okay!" Bridgette called back in reply.

Once I felt like I was totally back to normal, I made a sudden snap decision, and chose to say it right then and there.

"I think I'll need something to distract me from… all this. Maybe do something tomorrow."

xx

 **And that concludes the second part I guess. Stay tuned for… next Thursday/Friday, hopefully.**


	10. Chapter 9: Common Ground

**Sorry I didn't post this last week, but I should have said that I was taking a break xD and also sorry for posting this a day late now… anyway, on with the story.**

xx

 _ **Part 3 - Nostalgia**_

 _It was amazing how many things I'd missed when I was gone. I almost didn't expect it to be that much at all… and there were even some fun times at the mansion_

xx

 _ **Chapter 9 – Common Ground**_

I had been sitting up in my bed for about half an hour before I decided that I wanted to go out for the day. And the weather had cleared up for it as well.

Right then, I had no idea if Bridgette and Leshawna were up, or if one of them had left to do something. So I grabbed my black sweater from the floor and quickly put it on before throwing the blankets to the side. I could still feel the feelings from yesterday's news hanging over me, but I still hauled myself out of bed and made it out to the hallway. I was surprised to see both doors open, but not hear any noise coming out of either.

"You guys… still there?" I called out as I shuffled into the living area, but it fell on deaf ears… or no ears, really.

I wasn't sure what to do next, until I saw a note on the circular dining table. I picked it up and read it over a couple of times. Leshawna was out seeing a friend, and Bridgette had work until half past one. Meaning that I pretty much had no one to go with, which was great.

I decided to just get on with the morning first, and had a quick shower. Afterwards I pulled out the cut-off sleeves that I got the other day – short blue ones, which I presumed were off a t-shirt, and long dark green ones. I dug around some more and grabbed a strappy black waistcoat-type top, which I bought with Izzy and Zoey. I tried them on together, and went into the bathroom to look – they matched quite well, especially with my hair, and probably would be even better when I put on my new lipstick.

A few minutes later, I was standing in Bridgette's room, looking at myself in her full-length mirror. I had also chosen the black skirt with sewed-on pockets, as well as some dark grey leggings, and black knee-length boots. I went to put on my make-up, including the lipstick, and came back to the mirror again. I looked good.

There was suddenly a loud knock on the door, and I ran out to answer it – either Leshawna could have forgotten something, or Geoff could be looking for Bridgette. Funnily enough, it was neither of them. Duncan was back.

"What is it this time?" I asked as I held onto the door handle.

Duncan didn't say anything for a minute or two, and seemed to be just staring into space again. But once a smirk slowly started to grow on his face, it only took me a few seconds to realize that he was checking me out.

"Not bad." He said, raising an eyebrow. "When did you get that stuff?"

"Uh…" I could feel my cheeks going red at that point. "Got most of it a few days ago. It was when I got this done as well." I pulled at a couple of strands of my hair. "Is that why you came here?"

"No, I… kinda heard about what happened yesterday, and I guess I'm… just checking to see if you're okay." Duncan looked away and stuffed a hand in his pocket.

I felt my heart racing slightly, and quickly exhaled. It had gotten awkward pretty fast.

"Okay… thanks. I guess I'm… going to have breakfast now." I slowly stepped backwards before turning around and heading to the kitchen.

"Oh, that was the other thing. You got any more butter left?"

I stopped and looked back at Duncan, who had stepped inside.

"Butter?" I repeated.

"Geoff said there was another block in the fridge, but nope." He shrugged and rolled his eyes.

I turned to the fridge and pulled it open, scanning the shelves for butter. Nothing. I closed the fridge and went to the cupboard. Nothing in the butter tray.

"No butter." I said, shutting the cupboard.

"Darn it, I'm not taking a bus down to the supermarket just for butter."

"What, you don't have anything else to get?"

"Nope, not really."

I stared at the list on the fridge for a few minutes – on it already were tissues and sandwich bread.

"Well we need a couple of things as well as butter, so I… guess it shouldn't be that useless." I was doing a _great_ job in that situation. "I need something to distract myself anyway." And that was supposed to be said in my head.

"What do you mean?"

I turned back around and momentarily forgot what I was meant to say.

"Uh… I was… I- um…" I was really stumbling on my words. But Duncan seemed to be patient, and just stood there as I found what to say. "I was going to go out somewhere, and since Leshawna and Bridgette both aren't here-"

"I can come."

I stopped and looked ahead blankly, wondering if I was deaf. Or my mind was really muddled up and confused. Either way, I didn't really like it. But I knew I had to answer. And I wasn't really that keen on… whatever would happen. But of course I blurted out the wrong thing anyway.

"Where to though?"

Duncan shrugged again. "I dunno, I was thinking going to where I lived for about eighteen years."

"Oh yeah? Where's that?"

"Just on the edge of Pasadena."

Pasadena? _Pasadena_?

"You grew up in Pasadena too?" My words were coming back, and I was feeling a little bit more relaxed.

"Hold on, what?" Duncan looked as surprised as I probably did.

"Um… let's just… go and wait for the next bus to Pasadena." I still felt a bit like I didn't want to do this. But because of my big mouth, I had no choice.

"Pfft, stuff the bus. I've got a car."

"You what?" I went to say more, but Duncan had already left the room. I decided that all I could do was follow him out. So I quickly grabbed my bag and my swipe card, shutting the door as I came out. I ran through the open laundry and around to the elevators, just as Duncan had pressed the down button. "Where do you park it then?" I asked him as we waited.

"You know there's a parking lot behind the apartment block, right?"

"Er… yeah, no I didn't know."

"Well that's where it is."

The far left elevator finally dinged, after at least a minute. I kept quiet as it went down, and because of that, I presumed Duncan didn't decide to say anything as well. I just thought about the weirdness of the situation. Twenty minutes ago, I hadn't even considered going back to my old hometown with someone I didn't really know that well. But I ended up doing exactly that.

From the lift to the parking lot, I tried to unjumble my mind and think about happier things. I was going to Pasadena, for example. And it'd been a whole eight months since I'd left. I started to remember what I'd always do there with all my old friends. Mini golf, weekly visits to the cinemas (and not just to watch movies), barbeques at the playground next door to my house – I just wanted to go back there and do it all again.

But I hadn't realized that I was now standing smack bang in the middle of the parking lot. That was until a hand waved in front of my face a few times.

"Hey, earth to Gwen."

And all of a sudden, the awkwardness just… dropped right off like a pack of bricks. I found myself laughing and swatting Duncan's hand away.

"Alright, I'm coming!" I said as I turned around to get into the car – it was a blue Ford Fiesta that was apparently a few years old. "Next stop, Pasadena."

The ride was loud and went past way too quickly. But I got a chance to recollect on a lot of the things that could be done in Pasadena, and found that Duncan had enjoyed almost the same things when he was younger. I felt relieved to know that I wasn't on an outing with an almost-stranger, and it would have been even worse if we had both stayed quiet for the whole drive.

Once I saw the familiar streets that I used to walk so often, I was almost starting to feel a bit tearful – I was home at last, after a really long eight months. And it only got better as Duncan pulled into a park on East Colorado Boulevard, right outside Blaze Pizza.

"Went here once ten years ago and have gotten pizza from these guys ever since." He said, looking ahead at the restaurant.

I looked at it for myself, and couldn't recognise it easily, but I knew I had been to a very similar place in my younger years.

"Well I'm hungry." I said, opening the door and leaping out. "Where's the outside menu?"

For a day that had started off very awkwardly, I didn't even have any idea that it would all clear up and become a lot better. Before I knew it, I was talking to Duncan like he was an old friend. We shared countless stories, mostly hilarious ones, including a few pranks. The conversation went all through lunch, which was delicious, and were still talking once we'd left the restaurant and headed off to the mini golf course.

"So then I left the fart bomb taped to the bottom of his chair, and the dweeb was still writing when the rest of the class left to go to the library. _Then_ it went off, and I think he passed out!" Duncan finished off another prank story, which was just as hilarious as the last.

"What next, did they have to get a whole fumigation squad to drag him out?" I asked, trying to hold in my laughter until the very end.

"I dunno what happened there, but half the school knew about it within four days!"

"Four days?" That was when I decided to throw my head back and laugh. "How did it spread around that quick? Bunch of gossipy bitches went to your school?"

"Actually, yeah, there was. A whole truckload of sophomores and juniors. Nerd didn't show up to class for a whole week or something though. Served him right."

"So you said it was payback… what for?"

"Oh…" Duncan's expression turned slightly grim as he stopped at a set of traffic lights, like he almost regretted whatever had happened. "Well, it was for him rigging the votes so that Courtney wouldn't get class president."

"Courtney… wait, what?" I jolted a bit in fright at the mention of her name – why, I had no idea. "You were at the same school then?"

"Yep. Same middle school, same high school, almost the same college… until _that_ must have happened."

My mind went blank for a few seconds. "What's _that_?" I asked, shifting around in my seat.

"When she joined… that Playboy place. On the day that we broke up, she told me that I was going to live a life on the streets if I didn't get all this sorted out." Duncan pointed to his mohawk, and then his piercings. "And then she stoops _that_ low." The traffic lights went green, and we were off again.

"Oh. Well I can say that she badly wants out of the top girlfriend position, and out of the mansion itself, too. We weren't told that it was going to be a Playboy mansion until a few weeks in. We got told that it would be a Bachelor type thing."

"Eh… it's not like I would go running back to her if she left that place. The last thing I wanna do is get back into a relationship with Little Miss Uptight."

"Well yeah, she probably does have a twenty metre pole up her ass." I snickered.

"Pole up her ass, you say?" Duncan laughed as he turned a corner, and headed towards the mini golf park near the end of the street. "Don't think I've heard that one yet."

"You have now." I sighed and looked ahead, even more memories coming back to me as we neared closer to the park – one which stood out quite prominently. "I remember one time I was here with my cousin, I think we were both about ten, and there was a boys versus girls' competition going on. So Rochelle and I signed up for it as a pair."

"Oh, I remember that. Geoff and I lost big-time to the girls. They were good."

"Funny you say that, because we kicked the asses of the guys we were against." I furrowed my brow as I stared up in thought. "Was it you?"

"For what? Oh… wait…"

And then for the first time in a couple of hours, I locked eyes with Duncan. Not that it was awkward or anything – I was just trying to see if I could recall him from ten years ago.

"Well it's hard to try and remember, since you've got green hair and stuff." I sat back and shrugged. "Let's just go and play. We can save the thinking for later."

Once Duncan had found a park, we were out and racing to the starting point. I felt like a kid again, with the light wind rushing through my hair, and my feet pounding on the pavement as I ran. And somehow, I found myself at the rental booth first. I turned around to see that Duncan wasn't that far behind me at all, and had just stopped.

"So what's the prize then? First go in all the holes?" I asked, crossing my arms and smirking. "One point advantage?

Letting out a breath, Duncan stood up and smirked back at me. "I never said anything about a prize." He said with an obvious amount of sarcasm.

"Oh, shut up, you did so."

"Alright, fine, you go first."

At least ten minutes later, we were eight holes in, and it had been pretty loud, with lots of mini bets on who would get the next hole the quickest. And I was barely in the lead.

"Oh, come _on_!" Duncan complained as I scored a third hole-in-one.

"What, you don't wanna lose to a girl?" I taunted as I went over to pick up my ball.

"Well- uh… no, of course not!"

I could tell that he was probably lying, but I didn't say anything.

Another few minutes, and we were at the fourteenth hole, which had a pond in the middle. There was a sign at the beginning to say that if the ball got in the pond, the player would have to hit off from where they started. I went first, and just missed the pond, but didn't get it close enough to the hole.

"Pfft, nice." Duncan chortled, obviously thinking he could do better. "Watch how I used to nail this hole back in the day."

I stepped back and waited for him to hit his ball. It went straight over the pond, and looked like it was about to land straight in the hole… but instead it bounced off the concrete edging, flew backwards for a foot or two and into the pond.

"And you were saying?" I said, trying to stop myself from laughing as Duncan stared at the pond in disbelief.

"Eh, I'll get it next time." He said shortly, going over to pick up the ball. "Your go."

xx

 **Well there we go, I guess. Next chapter should (hopefully) be up by next Thursday/Friday, so stay tuned!**


	11. Chapter 10: Bowling Down Memory Lane

**I'm getting really bad at updating… I need to get myself motivated to do it again. xD**

xx

 _ **Chapter 10 – Bowling Down Memory Lane**_

xx

It took us half an hour to go through the next holes, all because of Duncan trying to work out the fairness of a shot I made. And after all that effort, I ended up losing. I was ahead for sixteen holes, but I was knocked off my winner's perch the hole after. That was all done though, and we were headed back to the apartments.

"So…" I began, trying to recall if there was anything we missed, "today was fun, I guess. I wish I had done some more though. Like bowling, the cinema…"

"We could do bowling tonight." Duncan said, almost out of the blue. "Get the others to come along too."

I thought for another few minutes about what could happen tonight. Bowling sounded great, and if we went to the right place, we'd be able to get dinner there as well.

"Yeah, alright. Bowling tonight." I nodded, a bubble of excitement swelling up inside me. Out of all the activities in Pasadena, bowling was the one I did (and missed) the most, and we always went to the same alley. If I decided to not go bowling tonight, it would most likely end up as my biggest regret of the day.

"Just going to stop by and tell Geoff what's happening tonight." Duncan said, dragging me out of my thoughts.

I looked around and saw that we were nearing the shopping centre where I'd gone with Izzy and Zoey. We found a park in the underground parking lot, and quickly went through to the café. But Geoff had apparently already left, according to Amy, who was still there. So it was back out and onto the road.

"He'll probably be on his way back to the apartment, right?" I wasn't sure what was happening, or whether either of the guys had planned anything for the afternoon.

"Er… wait, no, he'll be… maybe at the airport by now."

"The airport? Did he… go somewhere or something?"

"Oh, no, he's just gone there to pick up DJ, the other guy that would be at mine and Geoff's apartment. He'd been to see family for a few days."

"Okay then… so they're… going back to the apartment themselves?"

"They were, but I got a message at mini golf to say that they'd need picking up… so I guess it'll just be a bit of a longer drive."

"Uh… right." I sat back and stared out the window.

Once we got to the airport, we had to wait for at least an hour, as the flight had been delayed by some stupid amount. Geoff was still there, however, and had been waiting for two hours already.

"Dude, I thought this was gonna take a while, but then I saw a heap of my old buds coming off a Dallas flight!" He told Duncan, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh man, it was great to see them again."

Being the only girl there at the time, I just watched all the people go by with their luggage, either off to some place in the States (or the world for that matter), waiting to be picked up, or waiting for other people off other flights. But eventually, DJ did come – a massive Jamaican guy who I was told by the other guys was a big softie. Then it was out of the airport, and back to the apartments for only half an hour.

I grabbed my card from my bag, but before I could unlock the door, it was opened by Leshawna.

"Girl, where the heck have you been?" She asked, looking and sounding surprised to see me.

"Well… I went out to Pasadena for the day." I replied, realizing that I should have left a note behind, just in case.

"By yourself…?"

"Oh, course not. I'll just… get inside first."

"Hang on, who'd ya go _with_ then?"

"Is it not okay if there's a little more privacy for me to say it?"

"Uh… oh, I know who." Leshawna let out a laugh. "Come on in girl," she ushered me inside, shutting the door behind me, "you gotta tell us about this day out."

I looked over to the living area and saw Bridgette on the sofa, looking back at me expectantly.

"What did you do with who?" She asked, sitting up. "Tell us!"

I decided to tell them the other thing first. "Not before I drop a bombshell to say that we're going bowling tonight." I couldn't help smiling as I said it.

"We're what?"

"Girl, you did just not plan a bowling night behind our backs!" Leshawna hooted as she walked past. "Where'd that come from, hm?"

"Well it actually wasn't… really my idea." I could feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks, which was embarrassing.

"Hold on, lemme get this one. You went to Pasadena for the day, did stuff there, and… by that face…" Leshawna started laughing again, and I could only roll my eyes, but smile at the same time.

"It was Duncan, wasn't it?" Bridgette giggled.

"Busted." I said with a sigh. Of course I ended up being caught red handed… or red faced, really. "It was great though, we had pizza for lunch and then went to play mini golf."

"Well… Imma wantin' to ask more questions, but we gotta get ready for tonight if we're goin' bowling!" Leshawna quickly ran out to the hallway. "How long until we leave?"

And exactly half an hour later, all three of us were ready to go. Although Bridgette and Leshawna both changed their outfits, I just decided to redo my make-up, as it had faded a bit. Now we were waiting outside for the bus, and the guys.

"Where are they?" Bridgette asked, pulling down the sleeves of her blue hoodie. "I thought Geoff and Duncan both always said that girls were slower at getting ready than guys. But we're out here, and they're… still in there."

I looked over my shoulder, just in time to spot a bus at the very end of the road, followed by another one. I watched them as they got closer, waiting to find out what was headed where. The front bus was headed for Anaheim, whilst the second one… Pasadena.

"The second bus!" I called, running out onto the pavement.

"Here they come!" Leshawna shouted, a loud, faraway exclamation of shock echoing out afterwards.

I continued running towards the second bus and waited outside once I reached it, as Bridgette had offered to pay for our tickets. Once the others all appeared to be out on the street, we all got on. The bus was completely empty, so it was straight to the back seats for the guys.

"Did you do a lot of bowling when you lived in Pasadena?" Bridgette asked as she sat down in the seat next to me.

"I did, actually." I replied, nodding. "And I really missed doing it… it's been so long…"

As exciting as it was, the bus ride seemed to drag out quite a bit. But just as I was deciding to sit back for a quick nap, we'd arrived at the closest stop to the bowling alley. It was then a couple of blocks' walk until we were finally there.

"Dude, I remember this place!" Geoff exclaimed, letting out a loud whoop. "Last one at the counter's paying for it _all_! And, uh… first there gets waited on by the last person!"

And just as he finished saying that, I ran like hell. I didn't know who was behind me, or who had caught up, but I didn't really care. With what sounded like Geoff and DJ jokingly pushing each other out of last place, I found myself starting to laugh as I burst through the open doors. The counter was in my sight. I ran the last twenty or so metres, but due to slowing down as I came in, I was only just overtaken by Bridgette.

"Damn it!" I yelled, yet still laughing, as I reached the counter just after her.

"Thanks for slowing down." Bridgette giggled. "Now wait for Mister Bet Maker to lose. It happens almost every time."

"Oh, shut up." I gave her a friendly shove. "And really?"

Geoff did, in fact, end up in last place, which was quite funny – he'd be waiting on his own girlfriend. But once all was paid for, including meals, drinks and a few nibbles, it was game time.

I looked up at the screen of the lane we were allocated to, and saw that I was between DJ and Bridgette. I stepped back and turned around, only to nearly bump into Geoff.

"Crap, sorry dudette!" He said hurriedly, adjusting his hat.

"It's okay." I laughed. "Oh, you're first."

"Sweet! Oh yeah, that's right, we're gonna do another bet!"

"Another one?" I was almost certain that he was going to lose it again, whatever it was.

"Duncan's idea this time. He said to me and DJ that you were apparently pretty good… so let's see who can get the most strikes, out of the four of us." Geoff almost looked smug for a few seconds.

"Not Bridgette and Leshawna? And do points matter?"

"Oh, they turned it down, so it's just you for the ladies, if you wanna! And nope, it's all about the strikes!"

I wasn't exactly too sure on what to say, but a bet like this I could _not_ turn down. Even if it had been a few years since I played.

"I'm definitely in." I declared, nodding and grinning.

Geoff grinned back before calling out to the others. "Alright, game on, people!"

It was completely crazy for even the first round. But for a start, neither of the guys were doing that well. Duncan failed in trying to get a split, whilst Geoff and DJ both got spares. It was then my turn, and with the guys messing up, I was feeling pretty confident.

"Go Gwen!" Bridgette cheered. "Win that… uh, what is the prize?"

"Winner gets ten bucks from each of the other three!" Geoff replied.

I grabbed a ball from the station and moved towards the alley. I knew it'd been a while since I last played, but I felt like I also knew exactly what I was doing. So I bowled the ball straight ahead, and stepped back to watch. Surprise, surprise, I got the first strike.

"Woohoo!" Leshawna shouted, laughing. "That's it, girl!"

The victory was sweet, but pretty short lived, as Geoff got a strike in the next round. But just before round three, the drinks were ready for collection. Each of us went to get our own, except for Bridgette, who of course had Geoff bring her drink over. Once the game resumed, the only one to not get a strike for the third round was Leshawna, who was constantly saying that she was the worst out of all of us at bowling. Round four, Geoff missed the strike, and the girls were yet to go.

"You think ya got this one?" Leshawna asked after taking a sip of her drink.

I looked at the scores, and saw that I'd be one ahead if I got a strike.

"I hope so." I replied, standing up. "I've only gotten one spare so far, so I don't know whether that amount's gonna increase by a lot in the next few rounds or not." I was about to go and pick up a ball, but stopped as I heard our buzzer go off. "That's our food, right?" I looked over my shoulder to the small table, where the buzzer was flashing madly. "What do I do?

"Bowl first, then get your dinner, maybe." Bridgette suggested.

"Alright." I turned back around, and within ten seconds I got the strike. Now it was time to go and get my burger. And I was starving already.

We took a bit of a longer break to start off on our meals, and didn't go back to bowling until at least fifteen minutes later. It gave me enough time to at least enjoy it, and make me remember how great they were even now. But once that fifteen minutes had passed, it was game on again.

The next four rounds were just as crazy as the first four, with a large variety of scores popping up on the screen. Leshawna surprised herself with her first strike. DJ scored a rather difficult-looking split. And I got a turkey, which bumped me up to five strikes, and by round nine, still one strike ahead of all three guys, who were tied on four. That did change, as Duncan managed to score a strike in his turn Once it came up to my turn again, I could hear the guys talking amongst themselves.

"Better get the ten bucks ready, dudes." Geoff said, sounding a bit dejected.

"Man, one of us has gotta win." DJ sighed.

"Just wait, we'll get there." Duncan told the other two.

As soon as I bowled the ball down the alley, I realized that I wasn't going to get a strike this time –the ball had moved too far to the left. It ended up knocking down six pins, which wasn't bad, and knocked down the rest in the second turn. But then I realized what it meant: the strike score was tied.

"Oh _man_!" Geoff laughed, whooping in delight. "This is it!"

I could only look back at Duncan as Bridgette went up for her turn, a smirk creeping onto my face. He looked up from his burger and smirked back. It was definitely on.

A strike from Bridgette, spares from both Leshawna and Geoff, and it was Duncan's turn again. I stopped chewing for a few seconds to see what he ended up doing. I was more or less expecting a strike to pop up, just like he overtook me in the round of mini golf. I watched the ball the entire time, from the moment he picked up, to when it struck the pins… and one was left standing. Which he then got next, but didn't really seem to be worried. I for one was – what if it ended up as a tie anyway?

"C'mon girl, the world ain't waiting 'till Christmas for this!" Leshawna told me as she lightly pushed me towards the end of the bench, just as DJ walked back from his turn.

"Okay, I better get this done with." I stood up and grabbed the ball which I had always been using, and stared at the skittles for a few seconds.

"Thirty dollars, Gwen!" Bridgette called, reminding me of what I was playing for. "Thirty dollars!"

I exhaled deeply and maintained my grip on the ball. Whether I would get it or not, it was all a matter of luck and chance. So I stepped forward a couple of feet and let it loose. The ball made a streamline down the very middle, only changing course ever so slightly. Closing my eyes and looking down, I drew my lips into a thin line as I heard whatever amount of pins tumbling down.

"No _way_!" I heard Duncan exclaim.

"Gwen, look up!" Leshawna said frantically.

I looked up at the screen and gasped as the word 'strike' flashed up on it. I shook my head quickly before letting out a loud cheer.

"Yes Gwen!" Bridgette cheered. "My turn now!"

I turned back to walk over to the table, just in time to see Duncan walking off. He obviously wasn't happy about the loss, so I decided to run over and stop him.

"Hey, come on." I said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back slightly. "You won the mini golf, I won the strike bet. We're even now."

Duncan stared ahead for a few seconds before seeming to come to terms with it. "Yep, we are." He nodded, grinning.

xx

 **Alright, hopefully I can update more regularly without procrastination.**

 **Now I'm gonna sound like a newbie, but don't be shy/afraid to leave a review c: only if you have something nice to say about this story. If you don't, then don't even bother reviewing, just leave.**


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